Ube 

Bmerican 

IRcvcepapcr 


James 
JEbwarb 
TRogets 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/americannewspapeOOroge 


THE  AMERICAN 
NEWSPAPER 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Bgcnts 
THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW    YOBK 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON    AND   EDINBX7BGH 


THE  AMERICAN 
NEWSPAPER 


BY 

JAMES  EDWARD  ROGERS 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Copyright  1909  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  rights  reserved 


Published  September  1909 
Second  Impression  January  1912 


Composed  and  Printed  by 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


>4 

-3 


7N 
1^^3  a 


TO 

J.  B.  p. 


i> 


h' 


<U»«J'A» 


PREFACE 

Professor  S.  N.  Patten  in  his  latest  book, 
the  New  Basis  oj  Civilization,  opens  his 
first  chapter  with  the  following  suggestive 
words : 

One  summer  day  I  took  my  notebook  to  a 
wooded  hillside  whence  I  could  overlook  a  rich 
and  beautiful  valley.  The  well-tended  farms,  the 
strong  stone  houses,  the  busy  men  and  animals 
moving  peacefully  over  the  roads  and  fields,  would 
inspire  me,  I  was  sure,  with  the  opening  theme  of 
this  book.  As  I  seated  myself  under  a  chestnut 
tree  a  fellow-guest  at  the  hotel  came  by,  and  glan- 
cing at  my  memoranda  asked  if  I,  like  himself,  was 
writing  a  lecture.  He  too  had  come  to  the  woods, 
he  said,  to  meditate  and  to  be  inspired  by  nature. 
But  his  thesis,  enthusiastically  unfolded,  was  the 
opposite  of  mine.  It  was  part  of  his  faith  as  a 
Second-Day  Adventist  that  the  world  is  now  be- 
coming more  unhappy  and  more  wicked;  and  it 
is  now  so  evil  that  the  end  of  it  rapidly  approaches. 

Professor  Patten  then  proceeds  to  tell 
how  they  saw  different  meanings  in  the 
same  things,  how  they  came  to  opposite 


viii  Preface 

conclusions,  and  how  one  pair  of  eyes  is 
always  apt  to  see  but  one  side  of  life. 

In  this  study,  however,  I  have  tried,  as 
far  as  possible  to  see  both  sides  of  the 
question.  My  aim  has  been  to  avoid  the 
pitfalls  of  hasty  or  set  notions.  The  sub- 
ject for  discussion  seemed  to  me  to  be  one 
of  concrete  fact  and  not  one  of  personal 
philosophy,  and  therefore  I  have  examined 
some  fifteen  thousand  newspapers  from  all 
sections  of  the  country  as  a  first  means  of 
getting  some  acquaintance  with  the  neces- 
sary facts  before  forming  any  decided  judg- 
ments. Essays  like  those  by  F.  Wilcox  in 
the  American  Academy  of  Political  Science, 
July,  1900,  and  E.  L.  Shuman,  Practical 
Journalism,  have  also  proved  particularly 
valuable  and  the  essay  of  Professor  W.  I. 
Thomas  in  the  American  Magazine  lor 
March,  1908,  has  aided  much  in  formulat- 
ing my  point  of  view  on  the  psychological 
aspects  of  the  subject. 

President  Roosevelt's  recent  onslaught 
on  newspapers  that  "habitually  and  con- 


Preface  ix 

tinually  and  as  a  matter  of  business  practice 
every  form  of  mendacity  known  to  man, 
from  the  suppression  of  the  truth  and  the 
suggestion  of  the  false  to  the  lie  direct," 
seems  to  have  given  expression  to  a  crit- 
ical attitude  toward  American  newspapers 
which  has  long  been  growing.  Lord  North- 
cliff  e,  the  premier  of  English  journalism, 
is  reputed  to  have  told  a  New  York  Times 
reporter  recently  that  in  certain  important 
respects  "American  newspapers  are  getting 
worse  and  worse  every  year — most  of 
them,"  and  it  is  not  long  ago  that  Mr. 
Charles  Wliibley,  an  English  writer  of 
distinction,  stated  in  Blackwoocfs  his  sin- 
cere conviction  that  ''no  civilized  country 
in  the  world  has  been  consent  with  news- 
papers so  grossly  contemptible  as  those 
which  are  read  from  New  York  to  the 
Pacific  Coast."  Such  criticism  does  not 
come  entirely  from  foreign  visitors.  Several 
of  our  own  foremost  thinkers  and  writers 
have  been  severe  in  their  indictments  of  the 
American  press.     John  A.  Sleicher,  editor 


X  Preface 

of  Leslie's  Weekly,  believes  that  the  news- 
papers of  this  country  are  "not  as  accurate 
as  they  were  fifty  years  ago."  Mr.  Frank 
Munsey,  with  special  reference  to  the  Sun- 
day papers,  observes  that  "nothing  new 
has  been  discovered  for  fifteen  years.  Since 
that  time  we  have  had  only  copies  of  copies. 
All  you  can  say  is  that  some  of  them  are 
worse  than  others."  Only  the  other  day 
no  less  than  three  of  the  foremost  American 
publicists — one  of  them  President  Hadley, 
of  Yale — took  occasion  to  criticize  Ameri- 
can journalism  and  to  question  its  honesty. 
The  substantial  truth  of  these  charges  can- 
not reasonably  be  doubted.  The  conclu- 
sion to  which  my  own  study  of  the  subject 
has  led  me  is  that  the  nature  of  the  Ameri- 
can press  is  essentially  sensational  and 
commercial  with  only  a  secondary  place 
given  to  the  cultural  aspects  of  human 
thought,  and  that  as  a  result  its  influence  on 
the  morals  of  the  community  tends  in  the 
direction  of  stimulating  love  of  sensation 
and  interest  in  purely  material  things.     At 


Prejace  xi 

the  same  time  I  believe  that  the  sources  of 
these  quahties  of  the  press  and  of  this  in- 
fluence lie  largely  in  certain  special  traits 
of  the  American  people;  for,  as  I  shall 
endeavor  to  show,  the  press  represents  the 
nation.  In  other  words,  my  investigations 
have  convinced  me  that  if  the  American 
press  is  to  be  judged  harshly,  and  if  it  has 
failed  to  attain  its  highest  possibilities  as 
an  educative  force  in  the  community,  this 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a  reflex  of  the 
nation  rather  than  a  leader  of  it. 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  I 

I'AOE 

The     Historical     Evolution     of     the 


Modern  Newspaper 


I 


CHAPTER  n 

The  City  and  the  Newspaper     ...       25 

CHAPTER  HI 

The   Nature   of   the   American   News- 
paper   43 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Influence  of  the  American  News- 
paper   99 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Causes  of  the  Influence  of  the 

American  Newspaper 165 

A  Psychological  Interpretation. 
An  Economic  Interpretation. 


THE  HISTORICAL  EVOLUTION 

OF  THE  MODERN 

NEWSPAPER 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  HISTORICAL  EVOLUTION  OF  THE 
MODERN  NEWSPAPER 

Before  discussing  the  American  press  of 
the  day,  with  its  freedom  that  tends  to 
Hcense,  a  brief  historical  review  of  the 
development  of  journalism  in  its  several 
functions  seems  in  place. 

The  first  attempts  in  the  field  of  journal- 
ism were  made  before  the  Christian  era  in 
China,  where  the  art  of  printing  was  then 
known.  We  have  little  information  today 
concerning  those  early  specimens  of  the 
printed  sheet.  The  first  real  newspaper,  in 
the  modern  sense  of  the  term,  was  the 
Pekin  Gazette,  which  is  still  published  and 
which  is  the  official  organ  of  the  Chinese 
government.  It  is  the  oldest  daily  in  the 
world,  having  been  first  issued  about  1340 
A.D.  It  prints  the  edicts  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  appointment  of  officials,  and 
other  government  new^s. 


4  The  American  Newspaper 

The  newspaper  of  the  western  world  was 
born  in  ancient  Rome,  where  in  the  Acta 
Diurna  we  have  a  remote  ancestor  of  our 
newspapers.  This  Acta  Diurna  was  a 
small  daily  bulletin  which  aimed  to  give 
to  the  citizens  of  the  Roman  capital  the 
news  of  the  empire,  especially  the  happen- 
ings at  Rome.  It  recorded  the  acts  and 
speeches  of  prominent  Romans;  it  gave 
accounts  of  the  progress  of  the  imperial 
arms;  it  told  of  trials,  judgments  of  the 
courts,  and  acts  of  the  Senate.  If  the 
modern  newspaper  reader  could  see  a  copy 
of  this  curious  old  Acta  Diurna,  he  would 
probably  reject  with  scorn  the  notion  of  a 
resemblance  between  this  succinct  bulletin 
and  the  breezy,  profuse  modern  news- 
paper; yet  here  is  the  newspaper  of  today 
in  embryo.  Comparison  shows  that  form 
and  purpose  have  changed,  but  that  there  is 
really  slight  difference  as  regards  content, 
for  both  are  about  wars,  armies,  deaths  and 
births,  the  deliberations  of  government, 
and  the  acts  of  prominent  persons.     In 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Newspaper    5 

Rome  and  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the 
papers  that  told  the  news  were  posted  in 
some  public  place,  a  market  or  square,  so 
that  the  people  might  read  them.  This  is 
done  in  China  today;  and  he  who  in  China- 
town in  San  Francisco  chances  to  see  at  a 
crowded  street  corner  a  group  of  China- 
men reading  the  official  news  printed  in 
black  letters  on  red  paper  and  pasted  on 
the  side  of  a  building,  can  readily  picture 
the  Romans  gathered  in  the  same  way  to 
read  the  Acta  Diurna. 

In  modern  Europe  newspapers  appeared 
first  in  Italy  and  Germany.  Italy,  so  long 
the  center  of  art  and  learning,  naturally  led. 
At  Venice  in  1566  there  appeared  a  small 
sheet,  the  Notizie  Scritte,  the  first  Italian 
newspaper.  It  was  sold  on  the  streets,  and 
those  who  pressed  it  upon  the  passer-by 
demanded  for  it  a  small  coin  called  the 
"gazzetta."  Herein  lies  the  origin  of  the 
name  "gazette,"  now  so  popular  a  name 
for  newspapers  the  world  over. 

In  Germany  as  early  as  the  middle  of 


6  The  American  Newspaper 

the  fifteenth  century,  shortly  after  the  in- 
vention of  printing,  small  sheets  in  episto- 
lary form  began  to  appear  at  Augsburg 
and  Nuremburg;  there  were  similar  pub- 
lications at  Vienna.  All  these  sheets, 
called  variously  Relationen  or  Neue  Zeit- 
ungen,  gave  accounts  of  discoveries,  travels, 
and  similar  important  events.  They  were 
issued  irregularly  and  seem  to  have  had  a 
precarious  existence.  It  was  not  until 
1 615,  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  years 
after  the  invention  of  printing  by  means  of 
metal  type,  that  regular  collection  and 
publication  of  news  began.  In  that  year, 
a  German,  E.  Emmel,  published  at  Frank- 
fort the  well-known  journal,  Das  Frank- 
furter Journal.  This  sheet  is  still  in  exist- 
ence and  is  considered  the  oldest  European 
weekly. '     Along  with  Butter,  De  Foe,  and 

I  A  chronological  list  of  the  early  newspapers  of  Europe 
still  in  existence  is  as  follows:  Frankfurter  Gazette  (1615); 
Gazette  de  France  (1631);  Leipzig  Gazette  (1660);  London 
Gazette  (1665);  Stanford  Mercury  (1695);  Edinburgh 
Courant  (1705);  Rostock  Gazette  (17 10);  Leeds  Mercury 
(17 18);   Berlin  Gazette  (1722);   Berlingske  Fedende  (1749) 


Evolution  oj  the  Modern  Newspaper    7 

Renaudot,  Emmel  has  been  called  the 
father  of  journalism,  but  it  is  difficult  to 
say  to  which  of  them  that  honor  belongs. 

In  France,  the  Gazette  de  France  was  the 
first  real  newspaper.  Publications  of  the 
newspaper  class  began  there  in  1605  with 
the  Mercurie  jrangois,  a  would-be  histor- 
ical compilation  appearing  from  time  to 
time.  From  the  beginning,  the  French 
were  influenced  by  the  Italians  and  in  1631 
a  French  Gazette  was  published,  at  first  a 
poetical  newspaper  devoted  to  gossip  that 
often  bordered  on  scandal.  The  publisher 
was  Doctor  Theophraste  Renaudot,  and 
when  presently  he  issued  it  under  the  direct 
patronage  of  Richelieu,  it  became  as  the 
Gazette  de  France  a  potent  weapon  for 
furthering  the  purposes  of  the  great  cardi- 
nal. A  number  of  small  sheets  intended  to 
influence  public  opinion  appeared  at  the 
same  time  and  this  kind  of  journalism 
finally  culminated  in  the  printing  of  the 
Mazarine,  a  paper  which,  as  its  name  im- 
plies, was  issued  in  the  time  of  Cardinal 


8  The  American  Newspaper 

Mazarin.  The  Paris  If era/f}' ^  published 
a  Httle  later,  represents  a  new  type  of 
journal,  giving  neither  news  nor  politics, 
but  containing  matter  of  historical  or  tech- 
nical interest.  The  French  newspaper  in 
its  modern  form  really  begins  with  the 
Revolution.  During  that  stirring  era,  the 
streets  were  crowded  with  vendors  of 
papers  advocating  every  shade  of  political 
opinion.  This  mass  of  hysterical  political 
sheets  disappeared  under  Napoleon's  strict 
censorship.  Le  Moniteur  Universelle,  the 
official  organ  of  the  government  (1789), 
discussed  only  moral  and  political  ques- 
tions, and  among  the  scandals  published 
in  the  Nouvelles  a  la  Main  there  was  no 
reference  to  Napoleon  and  his  court.  It 
is  only  since  the  Third  Republic  that  daily 
newspapers  have  again  increased  rapidly 
in  France.  As  in  England  and  America, 
freedom  of  the  press  and  a  steady  fall  in  the 
cost  of  publication  have  made  the  people  of 
the  French  republic  inveterate  newspaper 
readers.     In  1903  there  were  one  thousand. 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Newspaper    g 

four  hundred  newspapers  printed  in  Paris 
alone.  There  are  some  h'ke  Le  Temps, 
Le  Figaro,  Le  Steele,  and  La  Justice, 
which  are  conservative  and  of  good  moral 
influence.  There  are  others  which,  like 
Le  Petit  Journal  and  Le  Matin,  seek  a  wide 
circulation  and  get  it  by  means  of  all  the 
arts  of  modern  sensationalism. 

Of  the  origin  of  the  newspaper  in  Eng- 
land, Alexander  Andrews  writes,  ''First  we 
have  the  written  news  letter  furnished  to 
the  wealthy  aristocracy;  then,  as  the  crav- 
ing for  information  spreads,  the  ballad  of 
news  sung  or  recited ;  then  the  news  pam- 
phlet, more  prosaically  arranged ;  then  the 
periodical  sheet  of  news,  and  lastly  the 
newspaper."  The  first  English  newspaper 
is  believed  to  have  been  the  Weekly  News, 
issued  in  London  about  1622,  the  so-called 
English  Mercurie  being  regarded  by  most 
scholars  as  a  forgery.  On  December  31, 
1660,  in  Edinburgh  the  first  number  of  the 
Scottish  Mercuris  Caledonis  appeared.  The 
first  newspaper  printed  in  Ireland  was  the 


lo  The  American  Newspaper 

Dublin  Neivs  Letter^  published  in  1685, 
followed  by  the  Dublin  Intelligencer  in 
1690.  As  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  the 
earliest  newspapers  of  England  were  week- 
lies. It  was  not  until  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury that  dailies  made  their  appearance. 
England  gave  the  modern  world  its  first 
daily,  the  Courant  (1709).  This  paper 
consisted  of  one  page  of  two  columns,  five 
paragraphs  of  which  were  translated  from 
foreign  journals  and  contained  for  the  most 
part  foreign  news,  and  descriptions  of 
travel  and  of  court  and  military  life.  Eng- 
land furnished  also  the  first  penny  paper. 
The  Orange  Post  (1730).  In  1776  ap- 
peared the  first  number  of  The  Craftsman. 
With  this  newspaper  began  the  idea  that 
besides  news,  newspapers  should  contain 
criticism  of  men  and  affairs.  The  Crafts- 
man was  printed  in  opposition  to  the 
government  and  freely  criticized  its  op- 
ponents. The  North  Briton,  edited  by 
Wilkes,  who  was  so  conspicuous  in  gaining 
liberty  for  the  press,  had  already  appeared 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Newspaper 


IT 


(1762).  The  Morning  Chronicle  and  the 
Morning  Post  were  at  this  time  the  most 
important  of  the  London  papers,  and  both 
possessed  great  Hterary  merit  as  well  as 
political  influence.  Coleridge,  Southey, 
Lamb,  Wordsworth  wrote  for  the  Post 
and  Fox  and  Sheridan  for  the  Chronicle. 
It  was  however  in  the  nineteenth  century 
when  the  freedom  of  the  press  became 
almost  complete  and  the  masses  of  the 
people  began  to  read,  that  newspapers 
increased  most  rapidly.  It  is  difficult 
to  estimate  the  wide  circulation  and 
influence  of  the  Times,  Daily  Telegraph, 
Daily  News,  Morning  Post,  Pall  Mall 
Gazette,  St.  James  Gazette,  The  Observer, 
the  leading  English  newspapers  of  our 
day. 

The  story  of  the  growth  of  the  newspaper 
in  the  United  States  is  a  remarkable  one; 
the  development  here  has  been  greater  than 
anywhere  else.  One  of  the  chief  reasons 
for  this  is  the  fact  that  in  this  country 
"freedom  of  the  press"  has  always  existed. 


12  The  American  Newspaper 

Let  us  briefly  run  over  the  facts  of  this 
development. 

A  colonial  press  first  appeared  in  Boston 
in  1690.  In  September  of  that  year  Ben- 
jamin Harris  published  a  sheet  with  the 
title  of  Publick  Occurrences  both  Foreign 
and  Domestick.  It  was  suppressed.  The 
Boston  News-Letter  followed  in  1704,  but 
its  existence  was  short.  The  oldest  news- 
paper in  the  country  today  is  the  New 
Hampshire  Gazette  founded  in  1 756.  Most 
of  the  colonial  papers  confined  themselves 
to  the  barest  mention  of  the  news  of  the 
day ;  they  did  not  give  a  column  to  a  piece 
of  news  that  only  needed  a  paragraph.  If 
opinions  were  expressed,  they  were  on  the 
whole  subservient  to  the  opinions  of  those 
in  authority.  Zealous  Franklins  and  Zen- 
gers  were  the  exceptions,  but  it  was  they 
who  originated  and  practiced  that  inde- 
pendent spirit  which  was  infused  in  a  new 
class  of  paper  that  appeared  after  the  year 
1745 — the  so-called  Revolntionary  Press. 
This  new  type  of  journalism  was  like  the 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Newspaper    1-3 

North  Briton,  its  contemporary  in  England, 
defiant,  self-reliant,  and  independent.  The 
New  Hampshire  Gazette  is  a  well-known 
example  of  those  rebellious  journals  which 
boldly  abused  the  home  government  and 
lauded  the  colonists. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  Revolution,  we 
find  eight  newspapers  started  in  Philadel- 
phia. When  the  Constitution  went  into 
operation  in  1789  and  the  freedom  of  the 
press  became  well  assured,  there  were 
printed  every  week  over  76,438  copies  of 
newspapers.  With  the  establishment  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  news- 
papers sprang  into  existence  throughout 
the  thirteen  colonies.  European  prece- 
dent had  made  the  colonial  newspaper  a 
small  sheet  of  one  or  two  pages  dealing 
with  political  and  patriotic  subjects,  but 
now  the  size  of  the  paper  gradually  in- 
creased. There  were  few  editorials,  but 
the  articles  were  usually  written  by  men 
of  marked  ability,  such  as  Madison,  Hamil- 
ton, Jefferson,  or  Washington,  and  topics 


14  The  American  Newspaper 

of  the  day  were  warmly  debated  over  signed 
names.  Partisanship  was  undisguised  and 
sincere. 

The  succeeding  years  are  those  of  the 
beginnings  of  business  enterprise  appHed 
to  the  newspaper.  We  find  the  predeces- 
sors of  contemporary  American  journaHsm 
using  all  possible  means  to  gather  and  dis- 
tribute news.  Between  1835  and  1840, 
before  telegraphy  and  the  Atlantic  cable 
were  in  use,  the  New  York  papers  started 
"pony  expresses"  and  similar  expedients 
for  gathering  the  earliest  possible  news 
from  Washington,  which  was  then  as  now 
the  great  news-center.  For  the  same  pur- 
pose a  line  of  fast  sailing-boats  was  put 
into  commission  to  meet  incoming  vessels 
from  foreign  ports. 

It  is,  however,  from  those  mechanical 
appliances  that  have  transformed  the  news- 
paper as  they  have  altered  all  other  aspects 
of  modern  life,  that  the  American  news- 
paper has  received  its  greatest  impetus. 
With  the  invention  of  modern  machinery 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Newspaper    15 

and  the  typewriter,  the  use  of  electricity, 
the  use  of  the  telegraph  and  telephone  a 
new  era  set  in.  The  story  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  modern  American  journal  is 
typified  in  the  history  of  such  newspapers 
as  the  Herald,  the  Tribune,  the  Sun,  the 
Times,  or  the  World.  The  sudden  increase 
both  in  the  volume  and  scope  of  these 
dailies  is  due  for  the  most  part  first,  to  the 
enormous  reduction  in  the  production 
cost  of  materials,  especially  in  paper  and 
power;  second,  to  the  reduction  in  the  price 
of  composition  due  to  the  invention  of  type- 
setting machines;  third,  to  the  economy  of 
time  and  labor  resulting  from  the  introduc- 
tion of  improved  machinery  by  which  the 
papers  are  printed,  cut,  pasted,  folded, 
counted,  and  made  ready  for  delivery  by 
a  single  machine;  fourth,  the  increased 
facility  of  gathering  news,  due  to  the  free 
use  of  telephones,  telegraphs,  automobiles, 
and  the  like ;  and  fifth,  the  vast  increase  in 
the  number  of  newspaper  readers,  due  to 
the  spread  of  education  and  the  reduction  in 


1 6  The  American  Newspaper 

the  price  of  the  paper.  Today  any  resident 
of  a  large  city  in  this  country  .can  get  for 
from  one  to  five  cents  over  one  hundred 
columns  of  news,  editorial  comment,  pic- 
tures, and  cartoons,  besides  many  pages  of 
useful  advertisements.  The  accomplish- 
ment of  all  this  has  necessitated  an  increase 
in  office  equipment,  and  many  of  our  daily 
papers  have  erected  elaborate  establish- 
ments at  the  cost  of  a  million  dollars  or 
more  as,  for  example,  the  leading  papers 
of  New  York,  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  Cleve- 
land, San  Francisco,  or  any  other  of  our 
large  cities.  There  has  also  been  a  com- 
mensurate increase  in  office  force.  Some 
of  the  large  papers  employ  as  many  as 
five  hundred  men.  In  the  editorial  and 
reportorial  departments  more  than  a  hun- 
dred men  are  busy  night  and  day. 

This  picture,  so  hastily  sketched,  surely 
suggests  a  mighty  growth  from  the  humble 
beginnings  of  the  Notizie  Scritte.  The 
great  material  and  mechanical  develop- 
ment of  the  United  States  has  caused  this 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Newspaper    1 7 

pre-eminence  of  the  American  press  in 
material  equipment;  while  freedom  of  the 
press  and  universal  education  has  given 
the  American  newspaper  its  other  special 
characteristic,  namely  its  enormous  circu- 
lation. 

In  the  year  1850  a  newspaper  of  fifty 
thousand  subscribers  living  within  a  radius 
of  thirty  miles  was  considered  a  large 
journal.  Contrast  this  with  any  one  of  the 
modern  New  York  dailies  with  a  circula- 
tion of  nearly  half  a  million,  distributed 
even  to  points  five  hundred  miles  away. 
In  1900  it  was  computed  that  there  were 
sixty  thousand  different  newspapers  in  the 
world.  Of  these  the  United  States  had 
twenty  thousand;  Germany  and  Great 
Britain,  eight  thousand  each,  France,  five 
thousand;  Japan,  two  thousand;  Italy,  one 
thousand  five  hundred,  and  so  on  down  the 
line  of  the  nations  in  the  following  order: 
Austria-Hungary,  Asia,  Spain,  and  Russia. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  this  Hst  is  a  good 
index  of  the  intelligence  and  progressive- 


1 8  The  American  Newspaper 

ness  of  the  different  nations.  The  average 
of  intelHgence  is  in  direct  ratio  to  the  num- 
ber of  newspapers.  To  attempt  a  brief 
characterization  of  the  newspapers  of  the 
first  four  countries,  one  might  say  that  in 
general  the  newspapers  of  this  country 
devote  most  of  their  space  to  news,  sports, 
and  poUtics;  those  of  Great  Britain  to 
editorial  discussion  and  political  issues; 
those  of  France  to  petty  politics,  art,  drama, 
and  gossip,  and  those  of  Germany  to 
national  politics,  science,  and  art.  But  as 
regards  the  general  influence  of  the  news- 
papers in  their  respective  countries,  one  is 
safe  in  saying  that  the  influence  of  the 
papers  of  the  United  States  is  the  greatest. 
Here  in  the  baldest  outline  are  the  main 
facts  of  the  beginnings  and  progress  of  that 
great  institution — the  modern  press. 

Some  facts  of  general  interest  become 
plain  by  this  review.  One  is  that  the  news- 
paper of  the  past  tended  most  frequently  to 
discuss  questions  of  public  policy.  The 
newspapers  of  the  past,  Chinese,  Roman, 


Evolution  oj  the  Modern  Newspaper    19 

mediaeval  and  modern,  had,  as  must  have 
been  noted,  a  bearing  chiefly  political ;  they 
were  often  written  by  clerks,  notaries,  or 
other  persons  employed  by  the  government, 
and  were  constantly  subject  to  such  a 
supervision  by  censors  and  other  magis- 
trates as  still  persists  in  Russia.  Up  to  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  rigid 
censorship  similar  to  that  which  now  con- 
trols the  Journal  de  St.  Petersburg,  Nouve 
Vremya  (New  Times)  and  Novoste  {Latest 
News)  checked  the  action  of  the  whole 
press.  The  newspaper,  except  in  so  far  as  it 
was  purely  literary,  voiced  the  will  of  estab- 
lished rulers.  The  first  Notizie  of  Italy, 
the  first  Frankfurter  weekly  journal  of  Ger- 
many and  the  first  daily,  which  as  we  have 
seen  appeared  in  England  in  1702,  were 
one  and  all  under  the  patronage  either  of 
the  government  or  of  some  nobleman  or 
political  faction.  At  an  early  date,  govern- 
ments realized  that  newspapers  afforded  an 
easy  and  direct  means  of  influencing  the 
people.     As  has  been  seen,  part  of  Riche- 


20  The  American  Newspaper 

lieu's  great  power  was  due  to  his  adroit  use 
of  the  Gazette  de  France  in  shaping  and 
controlling  public  opinion,  and  to  this  day 
each  government  of  Europe  has  some  great 
daily  which  frankly  voices  and  upholds  its 
policy.  To  assert  then  that  the  attitude  of 
the  government  toward  the  press  has 
usually  determined  the  character  of  the 
newspaper  does  not  belie  historic  facts. 

It  must  also  have  been  noted  in  our  re- 
view of  the  development  of  journalism  that 
with  the  spread  of  the  idea  of  the  freedom 
of  the  press  newspapers  rapidly  increased 
in  number  and  volume.  The  relinquish- 
ment of  the  censorship  in  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  gave  a  great  impetus 
to  journalism  in  France.  With  the  repeal 
of  the  licensing  act  in  England  in  the  reign 
of  William  and  Alary  the  newspapers  of 
Great  Britain  grew  in  number,  size,  and 
influence.  In  the  United  States,  as  has 
already  been  suggested,  the  practically 
entire  freedom  of  the  press  is  chief  among 
the  reasons  for  that  enormous  development 


Evolution  oj  the  Modern  Newspaper   21 

of  news-getting  and  news-giving.  This 
freedom  has  had  unique  consequences. 
So  far  has  the  pendulum  swung  that  today 
instead  of  the  government  granting  freedom 
to  the  press,  it  might  almost  be  said  that 
it  is  the  press  which  makes  it  possible  for 
the  government  to  proceed.  It  is  the  press 
which  is  free  and  the  government  con- 
trolled. Indeed,  the  freedom  of  the  press 
in  the  case  of  many  newspapers  of  this 
country  degenerates  into  a  sort  of  license 
that  has  come  to  mean  an  utter  disregard 
for  law,  and  this  license,  as  will  be  pointed 
out  later,  has  come  to  be  the  cause  of  much 
that  is  evil  in  our  press. 

Furthermore,  from  this  brief  glance  at 
the  history  of  the  press,  one  is  able  to  trace 
clearly  from  the  beginning  the  present  two- 
fold role  of  the  modern  newspaper:  to 
give  the  news  and  to  express  public  opinion. 
At  first  the  stress  fell  chiefly  on  news-giving; 
the  small  sheets  sold  in  the  streets  of  Italy 
were  devoted  for  the  most  part  to  the  collec- 
tion of  the  gossip  of  the  markets  and  to  the 


22  The  American  Newspaper 

distribution  of  this  news  to  the  pubhc.  The 
original  function  of  the  newspaper  was  to 
act  as  a  news-gathering  and  news-distribut- 
ing agent.  In  process  of  time,  however, 
governments  came  to  recognize  that  the 
newspaper  might  be  used  effectively  to 
further  the  interests  of  those  in  power. 
Governments  accordingly  turned  their 
attention  to  the  newspaper,  and  out  of 
this  situation  came  the  tendency  to  put 
greater  stress  upon  the  expression  of 
public  opinion  as  distinct  from  the 
news-gathering  function.  Parallel  with  the 
growth  and  spread  of  this  second  principle 
of  the  press,  there  grew  up  a  third  idea  as 
to  the  province  of  the  newspaper,  namely, 
that  the  daily  papers  should  not  only 
gather  news  and  express  public  opinion  but 
that  they  should  also  create  public  opinion. 
This  idea  has  attained  its  greatest  develop- 
ment in  the  American  press.  Moreover 
the  American  journalist  has  not  been  con- 
tent to  use  the  editorial  columns  in  order  to 
mold   public    opinion;     he   has,   unfortu- 


Evolution  oj  the  Modern  Newspaper    23 

nately,  reached  the  point  of  altering  and 
coloring  news. 

Here,  in  these  three  theories  of  what 
constitutes  the  function  of  the  newspaper, 
the  evolution  of  the  newspaper  is  seen. 
First,  that  the  newspaper  should  only 
gather  and  distribute  the  news;  second, 
that  its  function  should  be  primarily  to 
express  public  opinion,  and  third,  that  the 
newspaper  besides  collecting  news  and 
reflecting  public  opinion  should  create 
opinion.  Historically,  the  first-mentioned 
function  preceded  the  other  two.  It  is  only 
in  the  present  day,  however,  that  the  last 
function — to  create  public  opinion— has 
been  developed  to  its  fullest  hmit.  This 
could  only  be  accomplished  in  a  nation  of 
newspaper  readers,  whose  daily  interests 
touch  the  politics  of  the  state,  and  in  an 
age  of  mechanical  development  that  makes 
possible  the  production  of  the  modern  news- 
paper with  its  twenty-four  pages  covered 
with  pictures  and  distributed  within  a  few 
hours  at  a  very  small  price  over  a  radius 


24  The  American  Newspaper 

of  fifty  miles  to  a  million  subscribers.  In 
summary  then,  the  following  tabular  state- 
ment will  show  the  historical  development 
of  the  newspaper: 

Country  Aim  Time 

Italian  To  give  the  news  17th  and  i8th  cent's 

English  To  express  public  opinion  i8th  and  19th  cent's 

American  To  create  public  opinion  19th  and  20th  cent's 


THE  CITY  AND  THE  NEWS- 
PAPER 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  CITY  AND  THE  NEWSPAPER 

Histories  of  journalism  are  few,  and  most 
of  those  that  we  have  are  out-of-date,  for 
the  modern  newspaper  changes  rapidly. 
The  newspaper  of  today  is  vastly  different 
from  that  published  twenty  years  ago. 
There  are  a  few  books  dealing  with  the 
history  of  journalism  in  the  different 
countries  of  Europe,  but  these  were  written 
some  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  and  in  no 
way  foreshadow  the  modern  growth  of  the 
press.  The  best  history  of  British  journal- 
ism that  we  have  was  written  by  Alexander 
Andrews  in  1859;  nothing  of  equal  merit 
has  since  been  produced  in  book  form. 
Comparatively  little  has  been  written  on 
American  journalism  and  what  has  been 
written  does  not  cover  contemporary  con- 
ditions. The  story  of  the  modern  Ameri- 
can newspaper  is  yet  to  be  told ;  practically 
nothing  has  been  written  of  the  recent  yet 
27 


28  The  American  Newspaper 

wonderful  development  of  the  modern 
press,  especially  along  financial  and  me- 
chanical lines.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
there  is  great  need  of  such  a  volume  and 
that  there  is  a  rich  field  lying  fallow  here. 

The  continual  changes  which  take  place 
in  the  business  of  producing  a  newspaper 
are  due  to  a  number  of  causes.  For  in- 
stance, the  invention  of  the  cylinder  press 
years  ago  effected  a  change  in  the  process  of 
makmg  a  newspaper.  Before  that  time  the 
circulation  of  a  paper  was  largely  deter- 
mined by  the  number  of  pulls  one  pair  of 
arms  could  give  the  old-style  press  within 
the  two  hours  allowed  for  the  publication. 
In  those  days  a  circulation  of  five  hundred 
was  considered  large.  Again,  the  tremen- 
dous growth  of  railroads  throughout  all 
sections  of  the  country  caused  another 
revolution.  For,  as  the  routes  of  travel 
doubled  and  trebled,  the  circulation  of  the 
newspaper  grew  and  its  area  was  increased 
a  hundred-fold.  With  every  invention  and 
improvement    of    machinery    and    motor- 


The  City  and  the  Newspaper        29 

power  the  business  of  the  newspaper  under- 
went still  another  change.  With  each  of 
these  changes  the  sphere  of  the  daily  was 
broadened,  and  with  the  rapid  increase  in 
circulation  there  was  a  steady  demand  for 
more  room,  for  more  money,  and  for  more 
men  of  abihty.  Thus  we  come  to  another 
change  of  recent  origin,  namely,  that  in  the 
ownership  of  papers.  With  the  need  of 
large  capital  newspapers  ceased  to  be 
owned  and  edited  by  the  same  man.  News- 
paper syndicates  with  trust  methods  have 
sprung  into  existence  everywhere  in  our 
midst,  and  the  policy  of  the  newspaper  has 
become  radically  different.  There  have 
been  many  other  similar  changes  which  any 
history  of  journalism  in  this  country  would 
treat  at  length. 

Besides  the  lack  of  good  historical  studies 
very  little  has  been  written  regarding  the 
numerous  problems  of  contemporary  jour- 
nalism. What  has  been  done  along  this 
line  is  mostly  contained  in  the  newspapers 
themselves  or  in  scattered  magazine  articles. 


30  The  American  Newspaper 

President  Roosevelt  and  others  have  occa- 
sionally spoken  of  the  power  and  problem 
of  the  American  press,  particularly  as  re- 
gards "muck-raking  and  the  tendency  of 
editors  to  lie. "  The  largest  mass  of  printed 
matter  concerning  journalism  consists  for 
the  most  part  of  reminiscences  told  by 
newspaper  men.  What  is  needed,  there- 
fore, at  this  time  is  not  only  a  reliable  his- 
torical treatise,  but  also  an  analysis  of  the 
nature  of  contemporary  journalism.  The 
latter  task  the  writer  has  undertaken  in  the 
pages  that  are  to  follow.  Of  the  many 
reasons  why  such  psychological  and  statis- 
tical studies  should  be  made  of  the  press  of 
this  country,  the  two  most  important  are: 
first,  nowhere  else  has  the  business  of  jour- 
nalism shown  so  elaborate  a  development 
as  in  the  United  States;  and  secondly, 
nowhere  else  has  the  press  found  so  large 
an  audience  or  attained  to  such  influence 
as  among  the  citizens  of  this  nation.  There 
are  in  the  United  States  about  25,000  differ- 
ent newspapers  with  a  total  annual  output 


The  City  and  the  Newspaper        31 

of  over  5,000,000,000  copies.  Here  every- 
body reads  newspapers  and  here  news- 
papers are  practically  free  to  say  what  they 
please.  This  is  not  true  of  Europe  where 
the  newspapers  are  less  numerous,  have  a 
smaller  circulation,  and  are  more  restricted. 
For  another  reason,  also,  newspapers  in  this 
country  furnish  a  particularly  interesting 
field  for  study.  The  matter  is  well  stated 
in  the  following  quotation : 

Less  accurate  than  the  Enghsh  newspaper,  less 
well  written  than  the  French,  less  well  equipped 
than  the  German,  the  American  newspaper  occu- 
pies a  mean  position  between  all  three  in  the  ex- 
tent of  its  news  service,  in  the  freedom  of  its 
literary  vehicle,  and  in  its  habit  of  treating  all  sub- 
jects from  the  point  of  the  educator  rather  than 
the  investigator. 

American  newspapers  differ  from  each 
other  and  from  the  papers  of  other  countries 
in  the  manner  in  which  the  news  is  printed 
and  in  the  relative  stress  laid  on  the  various 
classes  of  material  that  make  up  the  con- 
tents of  the  paper.     At  the  outset,  for  the 


32  The  American  Newspaper 

sake  of  convenience,  it  is  necessary  that  we 
make  our  classification  of  newspapers  on 
this  basis  of  manner  of  presentation  of  news 
and  relative  stress.  Thus,  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  selective  elements  of  tone, 
color,  and  atmosphere,  we  are  able  to  dis- 
tinguish three  types  of  papers:  first,  the 
conservative  press,  second,  the  sensational 
press,  and  third,  the  so-called  yellow  press. 
In  general,  viewed  from  the  standpoint 
of  time,  the  conservative  newspaper  is  the 
paper  of  the  past,  while  the  sensational  and 
yellow  journals  represent  those  of  the 
present.  Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
geography,  the  conservative  paper  belongs 
to  the  country,  while  the  sensational  and 
and  yellow  sheets  are  found  in  the  city. 
Conservative  city  papers,  of  the  type  of  the 
Philadelphia  Ledger,  there  undoubtedly 
are,  but  these  are  exceptions.  As  a  rule, 
it  is  certainly  true  that  the  city  paper  is 
more  sensational  and  yellow  than  the 
country  newspaper.  This  is  but  natural 
since  the  city  has  long  been  the  seat  of 


The  City  and  the  Newspaper        2)2) 

radicalism,  while  the  country  tends  to  be 
conservative.  Hence,  any  study  of  modern  y 
American  journalism  must  concern  itself 
with  our  large  metropolitan  dailies.  In- 
deed, one  may  safely  say,  that  the  modern 
press  is  a  development  of  our  cities.  There- 
fore, before  proceeding  farther  it  seems 
desirable  to  discuss  the  respective  influences 
of  the  country  and  city  dailies  and  to  ascer- 
tain if  possible  the  extent  and  the  causes 
of  the  increase  in  size  and  influence  of  the 
city's  papers,  namely,  the  sensational  and 
the  yeHow  journal,  the  two  types  to  which 
the  great  bulk  of  the  newspapers  published 
in  this  country  belong. 

Many  persons  would  object  to  the  state- 
ment that  such  a  paper  as  the  New  York 
Herald  is  a  representative  American  morn- 
ing daily  or  that  the  San  Francisco  Bul- 
letin is  a  fair  type  of  the  average  evening 
paper.  When  the  American  in  Europe 
looks  impatiently  about  a  newspaper  shop 
in  London  or  stands  before  a  newspaper 
"kiosk"  on  one  of  the  Parisian  boulevards, 


34  The  American  Newspaper 

he  resents  the  fact  that  American  journal- 
ism is  almost  exclusively  represented  there 
by  the  pictorial  features  of  the  Police 
Gazette,  the  gaudy  political  cartoons  of 
Puck  and  Judge,  or  some  copies  of  the  New 
York  Herald  or  the  Chicago  American.  To 
the  Frenchmen  and  Englishmen  who 
naturally  believe  that  these  sensational 
sheets  are  typical  representatives  of  the 
American  newspaper,  he  quickly  points  out 
that  the  numerous  conservative  country 
papers  at  home  should  not  be  overlooked. 
The  American  may  further  argue  that  a 
large  proportion  of  the  newspapers  of  this 
country  have  nothing  in  common  with  the 
cynicism  of  the  Sun,  the  pessimism  of  the 
Post,  or  the  gaudy  headlines  of  our  yellow 
journals,  and  further  assert  that  one  has  but 
to  turn  to  statistics  to  realize  that  the 
"power  of  the  press"  after  all  is  resident  in 
the  country,  for  the  country  papers  far 
outnumber  the  city  papers.  His  argu- 
ments, however,  are  not  wholly  sound.  To 
be  sure,  figures  flatter  not  only  the  active 


The  City  and  the  Newspaper        35 

four-paged  daily  of  the  small  towns  but 
attest  forcibly  the  genuine  influence  of  the 
humble  country  paper.  But  these  figures 
formulate  a  plea  upon  a  numerical  basis 
and  disregard  the  crucial  question  of 
"real  influence."  Mere  statistics  do  not 
tell  much,  but  often  rather  belie  the  real 
state  of  things.  In  the  subject  under  con- 
sideration they  sadly  neglect  to  recognize 
two  important  factors,  first,  the  scope  and 
field  of  the  ordinary  city  journal,  and  sec- 
ond, the  rapid  growth  of  our  cities.  They 
forget  that  nearly  half  of  the  population  of 
America  at  the  present  time  lives  in  cities 
of  over  eight  thousand  inhabitants.  They 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  our  big  city 
dailies  have  a  large  and  extensive  circula- 
tion in  the  neighboring  country  among  the 
farmers.  Obviously  it  is  absurd  to  assert 
that  a  small  four-paged  country  journal 
with  a  subscription  list  of  about  eighteen 
thousand  in  any  way  compares  with  the 
huge  twenty-four  paged  daily  of  a  large 
city    with    over    one    hundred    and    fifty 


36  The  American  Newspaper 

thousand  subscribers.  There  is  no  com- 
parison. The  New  York  Times  with  a 
circulation  of  250,000  is  worth  over  a 
thousand  of  the  Californian  Santa  Cruz 
Surf,  with  a  subscription  of  2,500.  Con- 
sider how  many  four-paged  country  papers 
it  would  take  to  equal  in  size  and  influence 
any  modern  city  daily  such  as  the  New 
York  Sun.  After  such  convincing  com- 
parisons, mere  statistics  become  a  joke  and 
we  find,  both  as  regards  size  and  influence, 
that  the  "power  of  the  press"  rests  abso- 
lutely with  our  cities  and  not  with  the 
country.  It  is  to  the  city  that  one  must  go 
to  form  any  estimate  of  journalism  in  this 
country. 

With  the  growth  of  cities  the  field  of  the 
city  paper  has  grown,  and  with  the  increase 
of  communication  and  travel  the  city  paper 
has  begun  to  oust  the  little  four-paged  con- 
servative journal  of  the  country.  It  is  true 
that  the  number  of  these  small  sheets  in- 
creases every  year,  but  as  has  been  said,  we 
are  not  concerned  here  with  mere  figures 


The  City  and  the  Newspaper        37 

but  rather  with  a  question  of  influence. 
The  city  paper  today,  for  instance,  covers 
an  area  of  about  two  hundred  miles.  It 
supplies  news  not  only  to  the  inhabitants 
of  its  own  city  and  the  residents  of  suburbs, 
but  it  is  delivered  at  all  points  of  the  country 
within  a  radius  of  two  hundred  miles  be- 
fore ten  o'clock  of  the  morning  it  is  issued. 
This  region  has  happily  been  called  its 
"sphere  of  influence,"  as  the  political 
scientist  terms  the  particular  area  that  a 
country  rules  largely  through  influence  and 
suggestion.  Traveling  across  the  continent 
from  New  York  one  passes  through  differ- 
ent "zones."  On  the  train  out  of  New 
York  he  is  offered  the  New  York  papers — 
the  Times,  the  Sim,  the  Herald,  and  the 
like.  On  the  next  day  he  is  flooded  with 
the  newspapers  of  Chicago,  then  of  Salt 
Lake,  then  of  Ogden,  and  later  of  San 
Francisco.  Returning  via  San  Francisco 
on  the  Santa  Fe,  he  passes  through  the 
"zones"  of  the  Los  Angeles,  the  Denver, 
and    the   New    Orleans   newspapers.     In 


39284: 


38  The  American  Newspaper 

this  field  the  httle  local  paper  cannot  com- 
pete with  its  big  rival.  If  it  survives  at  all 
its  mission  is  simply  to  furnish  the  town 
gossip.  It  does  not  attempt  to  publish  the 
news  of  the  great  outside  world,  and  it 
exerts  little  influence  on  the  minds  of  its 
readers.  The  city  paper  is  full  of  news  of 
the  commercial  and  political  world,  of  the 
doings  of  all  nations  and  peoples,  and  there- 
by becomes  a  powerful  force  in  the  com- 
munity. It  suggests,  educates,  and  con- 
vinces. The  country  newspaper  is  like  the 
small  grocery  store  in  the  suburban  town 
that  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  huge  city  depart- 
ment store.  It  supplies  the  purely  local 
needs  and  no  more.  The  story  of  our 
press  is  a  repetition  of  the  history  of  our 
industrial  corporations.  This  country  is 
the  home  of  large  concentrated  enterprises 
and  along  with  all  the  rest  the  press  has 
become  centralized. 

In  addition  to  this  enlargement  of  the 
field  and  influence  of  the  metropolitan 
newspaper  through  the  improved  means 


The  City  and  the  Newspaper        39 

of  locomotion  and  communication,  there 
is  the  national  fact  of  the  steady  increase 
in  the  size  and  number  of  cities.  The 
movement  of  population  is  cityward.  The 
city  has  become  the  center  of  thought  and 
action.  Here  masses  of  humanity  con- 
gregate and  thrive,  and  thus  it  becomes 
possible  to  control  them  more  or  less  as 
a  single  unit.  This  the  modern  metro- 
politan newspaper  is  able  to  do.  It  can  form 
public  opinion.  Moreover,  the  city  is  the 
unit  that  gives  expression  to  our  political 
and  social  life.  Cities  serve  also  as  the 
controlling  and  distributing  centers  for  our 
agricultural  and  manufactured  products. 
In  short,  since  cities  are  the  centers  of 
American  life  and  industry,  when  we 
speak  of  American  journalism  we  particu- 
larly refer  to  the  big  "dailies"  of  our  larger 
cities. 

Around  a  metropolis,  within  a  radius  of 
a  hundred  miles,  towns  ranging  in  popula- 
tion from  fifty  to  one  hundred  thousand 
persons  will  grow  up,  and  their  inhabitants, 


40  The  American  Newspaper 

mingling  more  and  more  with  the  metro- 
politan life,  will  finally  become  merged  in 
the  great  mass.  This  area  is  called  "the 
metropolitan  district."  Although  not  part 
of  the  great  city,  the  interests  of  the  sub- 
urbanites tend  to  center  there.  They  take 
the  city's  newspapers,  go  to  its  theaters, 
attend  its  conventions,  and,  where  they 
possess  newspapers  of  their  own,  imitate 
in  them  the  tone  and  methods  of  the  city's 
journals.  For  instance,  around  San  Fran- 
cisco are  San  Jose,  Oakland,  Santa  Rosa, 
and  Sacramento.  All  these  towns  have 
newspapers  of  their  own,  but  these  papers 
are  mere  imitations  of  those  of  San  Fran- 
cisco and  are  usually  under  their  domi- 
nance. The  same  thing  is  true  of  New  York 
and  Chicago.  The  dailies  published  in 
Manhattan  exert  a  vital  influence  over  the 
large  metropolitan  area  known  as  Greater 
New  York.  They  also  influence  newspapers 
and  public  opinion  in  towns  like  Jersey 
City,  Hoboken,  Elizabeth,  Newark,  and 
so    forth.     The    newspapers    of    Chicago 


The  City  and  the  Newspaper        41 

likewise  make  themselves  felt  over  a  large 
area.  One  finds  its  papers  in  Evan- 
ston,  Haywood,  Oak  Park,  Riverside,  La 
Grange,  and  elsewhere.  The  papers  of 
the  large  city  compete  so  well  with  the 
small  local  papers  that  they  have  in  each  of 
these  towns  a  long  list  of  regular  sub- 
scribers. Thus  the  newspapers  of  the 
average  American  city  represent  not  merely 
the  city  in  which  they  are  published  but 
the  population  of  the  whole  area  over 
which  they  are  distributed.  The  large 
New  York  journals  have  each  a  list  of  over 
five  hundred  thousand  subscribers  spread 
over  a  district  containing  something  like 
ten  million  people.  The  Chicago  papers 
cover  an  area  with  a  population  of  about 
five  million  persons,  and  have  a  circulation 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  each. 
All  this  suggests  the  immense  power  and 
influence  of  the  newspapers  of  our  large 
cities.  It  shows  that  in  spite  of  the  num- 
bers of  the  four-paged  country  papers,  the 
real  American  journalism  is  to  be  found  in 


42  The  American  Newspaper 

our  large  cities  and  that  this  urban  jour- 
naHsm  touches,  as  it  were,  the  hves  of 
about  two-thirds  of  the  country's  popula- 
tion. The  influence  of  the  prominent  New 
York  papers  is  particularly  striking.  As 
Wall  Street  influences  the  money  markets 
of  the  country,  so  Park  Row  and  its 
methods  determine  in  large  measure  the 
character  of  American  journalism.  These 
New  York  papers  are  watched  and  imitated 
by  newspapers  all  over  the  United  States. 
In  fine,  as  the  cities  are  the  controlling 
levers  of  national  life,  as  "Paris  is  France, 
and  what  Paris  says,  thinks,  and  feels  all 
France  says,  thinks,  and  feels,"  so  it  may 
be  said  that  New  York  is  the  East,  Chicago  is 
the  West,  New  Orleans  the  South,  and  San 
Francisco  the  far  West,  and  that  these  four 
cities  together  give  us  the  United  States. 
And  so  the  newspapers  of  these  four  cities 
give  us  American  journalism,  representing 
the  characteristics,  the  sentiments,  the 
desires,  and  the  hopes  of  the  country. 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  AMERI- 
CAN NEWSPAPER 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
NEWSPAPER 

It  is  then  appropriate  that  the  metro- 
pohtan  newspaper  should  be  examined 
with  care  and  in  detail.  The  study 
naturally  falls  into  three  main  divisions: 
(i)  the  nature  of  American  journaHsm; 
(2)  its  influence  on  morals;  (3)  the  causes 
of  this  influence ;  and  it  is  in  this  sequence 
that  I  shall  treat  the  subject. 

In  order  to  make  a  helpful  estimate  of 
the  daily  papers  of  this  country,  a  brief 
preliminary  analysis  of  the  nature  of  the 
press  in  general  is  necessary.  The  subject- 
matter  of  any  newspaper  can  be  divided  into 
five  general  parts,  and  these  in  turn  can  be 
split  up  into  many  minor  divisions.  These 
five  main  classes  are :  (i)  News;  (2)  Illus- 
trations; (3)  Literature;  (4)  Opinion;  (5) 
Advertisement.  News  includes  every  item 
45 


46  The  American  Newspaper 

that  is  a  report  of  current  events;  illustra- 
tions comprehend  pictorial  matter  outside 
of  advertisements ;  literature  covers  the  field 
of  serial  stories,  special  articles,  jokes,  and 
poetry;  opinion  includes  letters,  exchanges, 
and  editorials,  while  advertisement  is 
obviously  that  large  department  wherein 
are  published  paid  statements  of  what  is 
to  be  had  in  the  way  of  service,  commod- 
ities, and  the  like.  There  have  been  many 
similar  classifications  of  the  material  of 
newspapers.  One  of  these  divides  the 
subject-matter  into  six  parts,  as  follows: 
(i)  events  of  the  place  in  which  the  paper 
is  published ;  (2)  events  of  other  places  and 
countries ;  (3)  editorial  opinion ;  (4)  quota- 
tions from  the  financial,  stock,  and  cereal 
markets;  (5)  advertisements,  and  (6)  spe- 
cial departments  on  sports,  dramatics,  art, 
and  literature. 

With  these  convenient  divisions  before 
our  eyes  it  would  be  interesting  as  well  as 
instructive  to  make  a  quantitative  analysis 
of  our  modern  press.     In  his  monograph 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    47 

on  newspapers,  Dr.  Wilcox  found  that  the 
five  divisions  of  the  first  classification 
made  above  occupied  on  an  average  for  the 
whole  country  such  percentages  of  the 
total  space  as  are  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying tables.  A  careful  glance  at  these 
tables,  even  though  made  as  far  back  as 
ten  years  ago,  will  disclose  many  interest- 
ing facts.  For  instance,  war,  politics, 
business,  sports,  crime,  and  vice  occupy  by 
far  the  greater  portion  of  the  average  news- 
paper's space.  Opinion  and  advertise- 
ment are  omnipresent  in  all  papers  while 
literature  and  illustration  are  sometimes 
wanting  and  always  held  in  abeyance. 
Table  III  suggests  the  instructive  fact  that 
the  percentage  of  space  occupied  by  crime, 
vice,  illustrations,  and  want  advertisements 
seems  to  have  increased  steadily  with  the 
growth  of  circulation,  while  in  political 
news,  editorials,  and  exchange  columns 
no  apparent  difference  is  to  be  noticed.  A 
careful  survey  of  the  columns  of  different 
papers    will    show    that    a    conservative 


48  The  American  Newspaper 

journal  will  devote  only  a  few  paragraphs 
to  a  certain  murder  or  prize  fight,  while  a 
sensational  newspaper  will  give  three  or 
four  columns  to  the  same  thing  and  accom- 
pany the  account  with  many  pictures. 

But  this  quantitative  difference  in  the 
amount  of  space  devoted  to  certain  kinds 
of  news  by  the  conservative  and  the  sen- 

TABLE  I 

The  various  newspaper  matter  was  found  to  fill,  on  an 
average  for  the  whole  country,  the  following  percentage  of 
the  total  space: 

'a)  War  news,  17  .9 

!  Foreign,  i .  2 
Political,  6 . 4 
Crime    :t   i 
crime,  3 .  i 
Misc.,  1 1. 1 

!  Business,  8 . 2 
Sporting,  5 .  i 
Society,  2.3 

II.  Illustrations,  3 .  i 

III.  Literature,  2.4 

.  (o)  Editorials,  3 . 9 

IV.  Opinion,  7-1^5)  Letters  and  exchange,  3 . 2 

c)  Want,  5.4 
b)   Retail,  13.4 
,  c)   Medical,  3.9 
V.  Advertisements,  32.1  ^  ^^  Political  and  legal,  2.0 

e)   Miscellaneous,  6.0 
Self,  1.4 


aa^j^Ay 


UBS 


C#^    M     Tj-    M     0>    ( 


10»0    fO  't  fO  «    ^^    fO  ^  OO  "O 


ailiAsmcTj 


OOO   OOO   fOO   O   Mt^M   rrjMiorOw   O 


XJI3  StJSUB^ 


O   ■^  fOCO  CO   PO  ■^  ro  O   fO  O   O-CO  00   «  mO 

CO     Ht    O    O  O     fO  O-O    MTfMMO'-«'^f^<^ 


puB 
sifodt^auuij^ 


0'tOwfOwrOiOO'^««MsOr^(NOv 


ij^mipui3 


fO  0*0   ^  O*  *ncO  CO   W   ^WCO   MOO   O'O-O 
T^  mco   M  CO   fO  ^00   O^tNfOOtONOO* 


smcri  -IS 


nco  o 

10  o 

to  w 


O   W   fO  O   *O00   «  vO   O  O   O   w   f^cO   O  00   « 


Sjnqsnij 


(o  coco  r*QO  ^0*N   M  N   0>ONt^^«   «  t^ 


uojSurqsT;^ 

pUB 

ajoiuijj'Bg 


(OOO   «   0*0   «   M   fO»nm«   W    Mi^foroin 


o3bdih3 


O    r^M   O**-"   On    W<3    rOrOO*0't^<^0   "1 

oco<5  d  "O  HI  r-00  o^Nfot^^N'^ 


riqdppBin^j 


^  (O  M   Oi  t^  O*^   O   t^'O  t^  O   ^O  vO   o  o 
0000    N    Ml^N    M00t^»n'tfO  rOO    ff)  POCO 


©"O  r*^  00  »noo  <?NNN«o*Ni^  low 
foo*MO»oN«M  -^vo  ^  10  «  r*  fo  to  o 


^JOJ^  M3>J 


i^r>.^ooo*o  o>to^'0  000  ^O'M  ^t^o. 


3     E 


0.0   C9 


^H&: 


o 


o  « 


50  The  American  Newspaper 


TABLE  III 
An  Examination  of  Newspapers  in  Classes  as  to  Circulation* 


40,000  Circula- 
tion or  More 

7,500  to  20,000 
Circulation 

T 

Crime  and  vice 

4.2 

5-2 

6.6 
41 
5-7 
1.9 
3.8 
1 .0 

3.6 

TT 

Illustrations 

I 

3 
3 
7 
4 
4 
3 

III. 
IV. 
V 

Want  advertisements 

Medical  advertisements 

8 
8 

VI. 

VTT 

Letters  and  exchanges 

4 

VIII. 

Political  advertisements 

6 

*  In  news  of  crime  and  vice,  in  illustration,  and  in  want  and  medi- 
cal advertisements,  the  percentage  of  space  occupied  shows  an  almost 
steady  increase  with  the  increase  of  circulation,  while  the  opposite  is 
true  in  political  news,  editorials,  letters,  exchanges,  and  political  adver- 
tisements. 

TABLE  IV* 


New 
York 

Phila- 
delphia 

Chicago 

St. 
Louis 

Omaha 

San 

Fran- 
cisco 

S 
6 

S! 

3 

3i 

2 

3i 
6 
loi 

S 

8 

5* 

10 

2i 
2i 

II 
Ih 
4 

3i 

Politics 

6^ 

lh 

Literature 

2* 

*  Figures  show  the  percentage  of  the  total  space  devoted  to  each 
particular  branch  of  news. 

TABLE  V 


Subject-Matter  of  Editorials 

Amount  of  Space 

Percentage 

War 

344 

2X8 

42 

3Q 

16 

10 

7 

6 

2 

48.9 

Politics 

6.0 

Business 

2-7 

0.9 
0-3 

Sporting  news 

Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    51 

sational  newspaper  does  not  afford  the  best 
basis  for  a  classification  of  American  news- 
papers. It  is  only  in  a  qualitative  analysis  y 
that  a  satisfactory  basis  for  classification 
can  be  formed,  and  this  statement  can  best 
be  illustrated  and  explained  by  a  compari- 
son of  three  well-known  papers,  the  Boston 
Herald,  the  New  York  Herald,  and  the 
Chicago  American.  They  will  serve  as 
typical  examples  of  the  three  separate 
groups  of  daily  papers  found  in  this 
country. 

The  first,  the  Herald  exemplifies  the 
type  of  a  good  conservative  paper.  It  gives 
the  daily  news  sanely  and  as  far  as  pos- 
sible presents  the  truth  unvarnished  and 
without  much  comment.  Its  chief  atten- 
tion is  given  to  politics  and  business.  It 
has  few  photographs,  its  editorials  are 
straightforward  and  unbiased,  its  news 
columns  give  no  undue  balance  to  the 
unusual,  the  morbid,  or  the  vulgar.  The 
aim  is  evidently  to  act  on  principle,  to  be 
nothing  more  or  less  than  an  unprejudiced 


52  The  American  Newspaper 

agent  for  reporting  the  events  of  the  day. 
There  is  no  direct  attempt  to  arouse  excite- 
ment, to  play  upon  the  passions,  or  to 
flatter  the  whims  of  the  public.  There  is 
really  nothing  in  it  that  is  conspicuous, 
loud,  or  melodramatic.  The  Herald,  like 
all  others  of  its  type,  at  once  voices  and 
leads  middle-class  intelligence.  Respected, 
if  not  popular,  it  has  a  small  but  regular 
constituency.  This  satisfies  its  editors, 
who  do  not  seek  primarily  to  catch  sub- 
scribers but  to  educate  and  develop  sound 
public  opinion.  Such  papers  are  the  lineal 
descendants  of  the  colonial  press. 

The  second  class  of  papers  consist  of  the 
sensational  journal,  of  which  the  New  York 
Herald  may  be  regarded  as  a  fair  example. 
These  sensational  papers  go  a  step  farther 
than  the  conservative  journals,  for  they  not 
only  give  the  news  as  they  find  it,  but  they 
color  it,  or  as  the  newspaper  slang  goes, 
they  ''doctor"  it.  Even  in  the  "make-up" 
of  the  newspaper  there  is  an  appeal  to 
petty  curiosity.     Here  begins  the  habit  of 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    53 

giving  greater  space  to  crime,  sports,  and 
society  news.  Big  headlines  and  a  greater 
number  of  photographs  are  interspersed 
among  the  news.  The  editorials  begin  to 
swing  more  and  more  with  the  shifting  of 
public  opinion  or  at  the  dictation  of  the 
owners  of  the  paper.  One  becomes  con- 
scious of  a  definite  editorial  policy  which 
follows  rather  than  leads,  of  an  eye  to 
expediency  and  a  frank  hunt  for  sub- 
scribers. While  the  conservative  paper 
writes  jor  its  readers,  the  sensational 
journal  writes  to  them.  Under  this  policy, 
the  paper  becomes  spectacular,  excited, 
changeable,  declamatory,  and  often  argu- 
mentative. This  class  of  newspaper,  while 
it  presents  its  accounts  of  daily  events 
attractively  and  vividly,  inclines  to  cater 
to  the  standard  of  mediocrity.  In  short, 
its  taste  is  usually  commonplace. 

There  is  finally  the  yellow  journal,  often 
held  to  be  the  most  typical  form  of  Ameri- 
can journalism.  Without  stopping  to  en- 
large upon  this  point,  the  writer  is  inclined 


54  The  American  Newspaper 

to  doubt  this  position.  There  is  little 
question  that  yellow  journalism  is  a  large 
factor,  and  any  account  of  American 
journalism  would  be  incomplete  without 
it,  but  a  careful  examination  of  the  diJEFer- 
ent  newspapers  of  the  country  leads  one 
inevitably  to  the  opinion  that  it  is  not  the 
most  distinctive  type.  That  position  is 
held  by  the  sensational  newspaper.  An 
intensive  study  of  yellow  journalism  would 
be  interesting,  but  since  the  aim  here  is  to 
center  attention  on  what  is  most  typical — 
namely  sensational  journalism — only  a 
brief  analysis  of  yellow  journalism  will  be 
attempted. 

Quantitatively,  an  examination  of  yellow 
and  conservative  papers  shows  that  the 
former  class  of  papers  devote  20  per  cent,  of 
their  space  to  reports  of  crime  and  vice 
while  the  ordinary  conservative  newspaper 
gives  but  5  per  cent.  Qualitatively,  yellow 
newspapers  are  usually  distinguished  by  a 
flaring  make-up,  that  is,  striking  headlines 
in  glaring  type  and  many  illustrations  to 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    55 

give  as  vivid  a  description  as  possible  of 
crime,  sport,  divorce,  and,  in  general,  the 
dramatics  of  life.  Every  item  of  news  is 
worked  up  into  a  story  told  with  a  rush  and 
a  dash,  the  aim  of  which  is  to  excite  the 
reader.  Every  avenue  of  suggestion  is 
used  for  sensational  purposes.  Editors 
manufacture  news;  men  with  vivid  imagi- 
nations and  clever  pens  are  paid  large 
salaries  to  compose  fictitious  "writeups." 
Other  men  are  paid  big  sums  to  make 
"scare  headlines"  in  large  red  or  black 
letters.  When  it  is  remembered  that  it  was 
an  editor  of  the  St.  Louis  Globe,  who  de- 
fined the  most  successful  newspaper  man 
as  "he  who  best  knew  where  hell  was 
going  to  break  out  next  and  had  a 
reporter  on  the  spot,"  it  will  not  be 
surprising  that  statistics  show  that  the 
city  of  St.  Louis  has  more  yellowness  in 
its  papers  than  any  other  city  in  the 
country.  But  what  is  especially  distinct- 
ive of  yellow  journalism  is  that  when 
hell  is  quiet  and  there  is  no  sign  of  an 


$6  The  American  Newspaper 

eruption  a  reporter  is  immediately  sent  to 
make  one  at  any  cost. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  the  distinguishing 
mark  of  the  yellow  journalist  is  plain.  All 
the  melodramatic  methods  of  the  sensa- 
tional press  are  used,  every  detail  of  hell  is 
exposed,  but  a  truly  yellow  journal  does 
more  than  this.  The  essential  characteris- 
tic of  the  yellow  journal  is  that  it  creates 
news.  Another  of  its  methods  is  to  select 
news  from  what  is  available  with  a  view 
to  attract  supporters  to  its  own  opinions 
and  to  cajole  readers  to  its  ends.  It  dis- 
cards pages  of  news  that  the  public  ought 
to  know  about.  Its  aim  is  to  fix  prejudices, 
to  arouse  feeling,  and  for  its  own  pur- 
poses to  prey  upon  the  lower  passions 
of  the  great  mass  of  mankind.  It  is  not 
forgotten  that  yellow  journals  are  often 
progressive  and  generous;  that  they  fre- 
quently employ  the  best  talent  and  pay  the 
highest  salaries;  that  they  use  the  latest 
machinery  and  the  best  methods  to  gather 
and  to  distribute  news;    that  they  often 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    57 

send  grafters  to  jail,  and,  whether  from 
self-interest  or  not,  sometimes  defend  the 
rights  of  the  people,  especially  the  poor 
and  helpless  of  the  community.  The  yel- 
low journal  might  be  likened  to  a  living 
creature  with  a  heart  but  without  a  con- 
science. This  sounds  like  a  paradox,  but 
nevertheless  it  is  so.  As  Miss  Commander  ■ 
said  in  the  Arena,  "While  other  papers  have 
opinions,  it  [the  yellow  journal]  has  feelings 
as  well."  It  loves  and  hates,  pities  and 
protects,  despises  and  exposes  at  the  same 
time  and  in  the  same  breath. 

Yellow  journalism  is  a  distinct  product 
of  America,  but  it  was  not  created  by  public 
demand  here.  It  was  largely  the  self- 
created  "hobby"  of  a  rich  man's  son,  who 
wanted  to  dabble  in  frenzied  journalism. 
He  saw  clearly  the  reputation  as  well  as  the 
financial  success  of  such  a  newspaper.  It 
has  many  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
circus  poster  and  the  patent  medicine 
"ad."  It  is  a  big  advertising  sheet  full 
of    news,    pictures,    and    comment.     All 


58  The  American  Newspaper 

classes  read  it  to  see  what  it  has  to  say, 
even  though  they  may  not  Hke  it.  More- 
over, what  it  has  to  say  is  often  said  well 
and  in  an  original  way.  Its  circulation  has 
grown  enormously;  its  many  advertise- 
ments have  brought  it  great  wealth.  Even 
the  conservative  newspaper  has  sometimes 
imitated  it,  to  become  sensational  where  it 
has  not  become  yellow.  The  mercantile 
value  of  the  yellow  journal  having  been 
proven,  newspaper  publishers  began  to 
search  for  writers  and  editors  who  could 
invent  things  and  originate  ideas,  who 
could  draw  morbid  pen-and-ink  frenzies 
and  "fat  purple  cows."  All  this  took  the 
public  by  surprise  and  at  once  became  a 
big  financial  success.  The  public  wanted 
to  be  amused  and  entertained  and  yellow 
journalism  was  invented  to  cater  to  this 
taste;  it  became  the  circus  clown  and 
acrobat  in  modern  journalism. 

Yellow  journalism  acts  as  well  as  talks. 
We  often  find  yellow  journals  devoting  as 
much  if  not  more  space  to  the  affairs  of  the 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    59 

business  world,  of  the  commercial  and 
agricultural  conditions  of  the  country,  to 
the  fluctuations  of  the  money  markets,  to 
the  proceedings  of  Congress  and  the  like, 
as  do  many  conservative  papers  in  the 
same  community.  But  in  spite  of  these 
seemingly  beneficent  characteristics,  the 
fact  remains  that  a  type  of  journal  which 
is  constantly  used  for  ulterior  motives, 
whose  policy  is  always  impermanent  and 
generally  selfish,  whose  appeal  is  to  the 
primitive  passions  and  low  taste,  is  a 
menace  to  our  national  life. 

What  has  been  said  above  indicates  some 
of  the  chief  points  of  difference  between 
yellow  and  sensational  journalism.  The 
sensational  journal  may  justify  itself  by 
the  fact  that,  in  flying  in  the  face  of  tradi- 
tion, it  sometimes  breaks  down  false  pro- 
prieties, even  though  it  does  not  build  in 
their  place.  But  when  this  fashion  of 
voicing  the  latest  thought  is  set  in  motion 
by  an  unscrupulous  greed  for  power  and 
gain,  when  men  desiring  wealth  and  pres- 


6o  The  American  Newspaper 

tige  play  upon  the  passions  and  follies  of 
weak  human  nature  in  order  to  get  them, 
then  the  sensational  journal  becomes  yel- 
low and  its  influence  is  of  the  worst. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  the  most  typical 
form  of  American  journalism,  namely  the 
sensational  newspaper.  Examining  it  we 
find  twelve  principal  characteristics.  They 
are  as  follows:  (i)  "catering"  to  the  pub- 
lic; (2)  " playing-up "  news ;  (3)  "seeking" 
after  news;  (4)  "doctoring"  news;  (5) 
"sensationalizing"  news;  (6)  "trivializ- 
ing" news;  (7)  "falsifying"  news;  (8) 
"muck-raking"  by  means  of  the  news; 
(9)  "advertising"  by  news;  (10)  the" irre- 
sponsibility"  of  the  journalist;  (11)  the 
so-called  "partisanship"  of  the  press,  and 
(12)  flouting  the  law. 

The  next  step  in  our  argument  is  to  see 
what  each  of  these  twelve  traits  of  our 
press  means.  By  way  of  introduction  it 
might  be  said  that  almost  every  paper  has 
a  "policy,"  and  it  achieves  and  maintains 
this  policy  by  "editing"  the  news.     This 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    6i 

it  does  by  suppression,  exaggeration,  em-  / 
phasis,    depreciation,    and    the    thousand 
and  one  tricks  known  to  the  trade. 

As  to  the  first  characteristic,  "catering" 
to  the  pubhc,  the  late  J.  S.  Bennett,  the 
father  of  modern  journahsm,  once  ad- 
dressed a  young  man  who  was  speaking 
eloquently  about  the  "mission  of  the  news- 
paper." Replied  Mr.  Bennett  most  sagely, 
"Young  man,  to  instruct  the  people  as  you 
say  is  not  the  mission  of  journalism.  The 
mission,  if  journalism  has  any,  is  to  startle 
or  amuse."  This  is,  in  a  nutshell,  the 
thought  behind  all  sensational  journalism. 
In  the  sensational  newspaper  the  people 
are  written  to;  they  are  not  forced  to  lift 
themselves  to  any  standard  above  their 
own.  This  common  policy  of  "catering" 
is  further  illustrated  by  the  story  of  an 
editor  who,  when  offered  two  sonnets  by 
the  same  poet,  accepted  one  and  dechned 
the  other.  Presently,  much  to  the  sur- 
prise of  his  visitor,  he  was  heard  praising 
the  one  that  he  had  returned.     "But  it 


62  The  American  Newspaper 

was  the   other  which  you   printed,"   ex- 
claimed his  puzzled  auditor.     "Oh,  that 
was  my  choice  for  the  newspaper  certainly 
but  personally   I   prefer  — ."    Wliat   he 
meant  was  that  the  modern  editor  has  no 
mind  of  his  own,  for  he  merely  represents 
the  policy  of  his  employers  and  the  mind 
of  the  public.    No  one  would  think  for  a 
moment  that  Mr.  Brisbane's  favorite  read- 
ing consists  of  the  editorials  of  the  Hearst 
papers.     The   editor   does   not    think   of 
what  he  prefers  so  much  as  of  what  the 
public  wants.     The  modern  editor  of  any 
one  of  the  big  dailies  says  to  his  readers,  "I 
am  no  mycologist.     This  dish  may  be  a 
toadstool  or  it  may  be  a  mushroom  for  all  I 
know,  but  I  hope  you  will  find  it  appetiz- 
ing.    It  is  what  I  imagine  you  prefer  as  a 
dish."    It  is  in  this  way  that  the  editor  is 
an  important  factor  toward  determining 
public  opinion  and  public  taste.     He  is 
always  scheming  new  methods  and  new 
dainties  to  please  the  insatiable  appetites 
of  the  American  people  for  news.    We  are 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    63 

a  reading  nation  and  desire  to  read  news 
that  is  full  of  vim  and  pulsating  with  life, 
with  excitement,  and  with  strife.  An 
editor  therefore  who  coaxes  our  appetites 
by  "dishing-up"  news  in  a  sensational 
style  is  successful.  Give  the  people  what 
they  want,  is  the  maxim  of  most  editors. 

The  presentation,  or  "playing-up"  of 
news  is  another  of  the  important  features  of 
all  modern  journalism,  especially  the  sen- 
sational press.  Who  could  imagine  one 
of  the  daily  sensational  journals  without 
huge  headlines  of  a  startling  nature,  big 
and  striking  illustrations,  and  heavy  lettered 
type  in  which  current  events  are  presented 
in  the  most  alluring  style?  Nowhere  else 
is  the  system  of  using  elaborate  headlines 
so  prevalent  and  common  as  in  this 
country.  To  work  up  an  ''extra"  by 
spreading  in  some  startling  and  novel 
fashion  a  big  scare  headline  in  red  ink 
clear  across  the  first  pages  has  become  an 
art  for  which  men  are  paid  high  salaries. 
This  headline   is   designed   of   course   to 


64  The  American  Newspaper 

catch  the  eye  and  to  sell  the  paper — a  small 
touch  of  journalistic  advertising  and  noth- 
ing more.  Often,  however,  when  one 
purchases  such  a  paper  he  finds  that  al- 
though the  "extra"  reports  a  frightful 
wreck  in  which  many  were  killed,  the  news 
columns  show  that  only  two  or  three  were 
slightly  hurt.  In  brief,  headlines  are 
"bluffs"  used  to  exaggerate  and  misrepre- 
sent the  news  in  order  to  stimulate  the 
public  to  buy.  The  editor  who  is  selling 
his  news  as  a  commodity  is  anxious  to 
create  a  demand;  he  is  selling  news,  and 
he  believes  that  the  best  way  to  advertise 
his  goods  is  to  varnish  them  with  black 
ink  and  to  garnish  them  with  frills.  He  is 
right  in  his  judgment  of  the  American 
people,  for  although  fooled  often  in  the 
past  by  these  "extras,"  they  cannot  resist 
the  cry  of  the  newspaper  body  peddling  his 
wares.  Again  and  again  they  succumb  to 
the  editor's  bluff.  Much  of  the  foreign 
news  is  the  same  in  all  the  dailies;  the 
chief  difference  is  in  the  local  news. 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    65 

To  illustrate:  A  diagnosis  of  a  hospital 
record  will  appear  in  a  conservative  news- 
paper as  only  a  three-line  paragraph, 
while  the  same  bit  of  local  news  will  in  the 
sensational  journal  grow  into  the  length 
of  a  column  or  more,  displayed  with  photo- 
graphs and  headlines.  A  well-known  news- 
paper correspondent  who  has  achieved 
national  fame  as  a  journalist  "WTites  to  those 
who  desire  to  become  newspaper  men  and 
gives  them  the  following  advice:  "Look 
for  something  human,  pathetic,  pictur- 
esque, humorous,  or  peculiar  in  some  way 
or  other — then  write  that.  Make  a '  special 
article,'  as  we  say.  Nothing  is  too  old  or 
hackneyed — the  flight  of  a  runaway  cab, 
the  torturing  of  a  neighborhood  by  a  loud- 
talking  parrot,  the  behavior  and  comments 
of  the  crowd  at  a  fire — any  one  of  ten  mil- 
lions of  subjects  will  serve,  provided  you 
know  how  to  bring  out  whatever  it  was  that 
interested  you.  Two  or  three  such  bits  of 
work  will  be  more  apt  to  get  you  a  place  on 
a  paper  than  anything  else  that  you  can 


66  The  American  Newspaper 

do."  Frederic  Hudson,  once  manager  of 
the  Neiv  York  Herald,  held  that  every 
newspaper  should  have  some  one  great 
piece  of  news  or  story  of  wide  interest  in 
every  issue — some  "extra"  with  a  huge 
headline.  The  tools  with  which  the  sen- 
sational press  "plays  up"  the  daily  news 
are  the  large  flaring  scareheads  in  heavy 
black  and  red  type,  photographs,  faked 
and  doctored,  and  humorous  and  scathing 
cartoons. 

Today  it  is  the  chief  business  of  a  news- 
paper to  gather  news,  or,  as  the  phrase 
goes,  "to  chase  news."  One  of  the  chief 
differences  between  the  old  newspaper  and 
that  of  the  present  lies  in  the  fact  that  for- 
merly newspaper  editors  contented  them- 
selves with  what  came  to  them,  whereas 
now  our  editors  reach  out  after  news.  To 
succeed  as  a  reporter,  one  must  have  a 
"nose  for  news."  We  find  as  a  conse- 
quence a  wild  chase  for  news  in  a  frantic 
desire  to  fill  space  and  a  consequent  inac- 
curacy  or   even   absolute   untruthfulness. 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    67 

There  has  grown  up  with  the  rise  of  our 
papers  a  special  class  of  newspaper  men 
whose  business  it  is  to  ferret  out  strange 
stories,  to  discover  mysterious  crimes  and 
their  perpetrators,  and  to  secure  news  from 
persons  who  are  doing  their  utmost  to  con- 
ceal it  from  the  public  view.  Documents 
are  found  and  even  stolen.  During  the 
last  presidential  campaign,  one  of  the 
owners  of  some  of  the  biggest  newspapers 
in  the  country  had  in  his  possession  per- 
sonal letters  and  correspondence  that  had 
passed  between  corporations  and  certain 
private  individuals.  With  these  letters 
in  his  possession  he  swung  public  opinion 
against  both  corporations  and  individuals. 
The  question  that  disturbed  everybody  at 
the  time  was,  how  did  he  acquire  those 
private  letters?  Later  developments 
showed  that  they  had  been  stolen  and  it  is 
said  that  they  were  sold  to  the  editor  for  the 
large  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars. 
There  have  been  many  similar  cases. 
Indeed,   the  practice  of  reporters  to  get 


68  The  American  Newspaper 

news  at  any  sacrifice  and  in  any  way  is  too 
common  to  need  further  elaboration. 

Another  method  pursued  by  some  papers 
to  obtain  the  news  desired  is  "shadowing." 
A  reporter  writes  of  one  of  his  experiences 
at  this  kind  of  work:  "BeHeving  that  this 
milHonaire  knew  something  in  which  the 
pubhc  was  keenly  interested,  I  followed 
him  for  days  as  I  would  have  followed  a 
balloon,  a  kidnaped  girl,  or  the  general  in 
command  of  an  army."  "  Get  what  you're 
sent  for  at  any  price,"  is  the  constant  order 
of  the  city  editor  to  his  anxious  reporters. 
As  long  as  the  news  is  obtained,  no  one 
bothers  about  the  questionable  means 
used  to  get  it.  As  one  editor  blatantly 
wrote,  "  If  a  reporter  gets  what  he  is  told  to, 
he  is  a  good  reporter;  if  not,  he  is  no  good. 
There  is  no  half-way  in  this  course  of 
schooling."  This  is  the  average  standard 
of  a  good  reporter.  Anyone  who  by  means 
of  "hook  or  crook"  will  get  the  news  and 
write  it  in  an  attractive  manner  will  make 
a   success  as  a   reporter.     Subjects  of  a 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    69 

private  nature  are  of  interest  to  the  public 
and  must  be  opened  to  the  public.  It 
matters  little  how  much  pain  and  suffering 
is  caused  so  long  as  the  newspaper  has  news 
to  print.  That  is  business,  so  they  say. 
"I've  got  to  do  it,"  seems  at  once  to  be  the 
motto,  the  excuse,  and  the  exultant  battle- 
cry  of  every  earnest  worker  attached  to 
any  one  of  the  big  dailies. 

It  will  be  well  to  quote  on  this  vital  point 
Julian  Ralph,  a  veteran  journalist  of  the 
first  rank : 

To  attain  difficult  ends,  correspondents  have 
had  themselves  shut  up  in  prisons  and  in  mad- 
houses, have  crossed  the  ocean  in  the  steerage,  have 
braved  the  terrors  of  the  cholera  in  Hamburg  and 
the  plague  in  India,  and  have  invaded  every  law- 
less land  there  is.  With  them,  and  with  all  others, 
the  deeds  they  have  done  and  the  methods  they 
have  employed  have  been  invariably  weighted  by 
their  own  consciences,  and  so  it  must  ever  be  in 
such  cases. 

Mr.  Ralph  then  relates  a  humorous 
anecdote  to  illustrate  his  thought. 


70  The  American  Newspaper 

The  great  statesman,  Gladstone  [he  says],  on 
one  occasion,  took  the  question  out  of  the  sphere 
of  the  correspondent's  conscience  and  settled  it 
himself.  It  was  when  Homer  Davenport,  the  well- 
known  cartoonist  from  America,  went  to  Hawarden 
to  see  the  aged  chieftain  in  order  to  familiarize 
himself  with  his  face  and  draw  it.  He  met  Mr. 
Gladstone  on  the  road  near  his  house.  He  told 
him  he  was  a  tourist  from  Oregon.  "And  did  you 
come  all  the  way  from  Oregon  to  see  me?"  Glad- 
stone inquired.  "I  did,  sir,"  was  Davenport's 
reply.  "Then,"  said  the  ex-premier,  "all  I  can 
say  is  that  you  must  be  fond  of  travel.  Good 
morning,  sir." 

Another  story  a  propos  to  our  discussion 
is  told  of  a  reporter  who  went  to  Rudyard 
Kipling's  room  dressed  as  a  mechanic 
and  there  talked  with  the  novelist  in  that 
disguise.  There  are  a  thousand  more 
stories  of  similar  nature  showing  the 
questionable  methods  taken  to  obtain  the 
desired  piece  of  news,  but  these  few  in- 
stances will  suffice  for  our  purposes. 

This  pursuit  of  news,  this  competitive 
spirit,  this  fierce  and  perpetual  struggle  is 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    71 

an  important  characteristic  of  the  sensa- 
tional newspaper  of  the  present  day. 
Indeed  the  immediate  cause  of  the  ten- 
dency toward  exaggeration  and  sensational- 
ism in  our  American  newspapers  might 
almost  be  affirmed  to  be  this  inordinate 
desire  to  find  "a  story."  Max  O'Rell,  the 
famous  critic,  cleverly  describes  the  Ameri- 
can newspaper  as  a  "huge  collection 
of  startling  and  amusing  short  stories." 
Every  reporter  is  cautioned  never  to  fail 
to  run  a  story  down,  to  follow  the  slightest 
clue,  to  obtain  pictures  at  any  cost,  to 
endeavor  to  discover  some  unique  feature 
that  may  entitle  the  "assignment"  to  the 
dignity  of  a  scare  "head"  or  a  four- 
column  "writcup."  Under  this  system 
of  selection,  trifling  matters  are  often  given 
prominence  at  the  hands  of  the  ablest  news- 
paper men,  while  weighty  matters  are 
thrown  to  "cub"  reporters;  this  elaborat- 
ing of  one  "story"  usually  means  the  cut- 
ting down  of  another  which  contains  more 
sober    and    instructive    matter.     It    is    a 


72  The  American  Newspaper 

question  of  stress,  of  the  amount  of  empha- 
sis given  certain  kinds  of  news,  and  the  ulti- 
mate cause  lies  plainly  in  the  fact  that  the 
public  supports  and  approves  this  vagrant 
use  of  fertile  imagination.  Since  the  pub- 
lic patronizes,  the  paper  takes  full  ad- 
vantage of  its  opportunities  to  fill  its  pages 
with  non-essential  and  sensational  news, 
illustrated  by  photographs,  cartoons,  and 
other  kinds  of  pictures.  Hence  that  strenu- 
ous and  incessant  competition  for  life  and 
death  going  on  all  the  time;  that  frantic 
struggle  after  news.  Yet  while  this  is 
dependent  on  the  American  appetite,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  this  appetite  has 
been  largely  developed  by  the  papers. 
Here  there  is  plain  evidence  of  an  inter- 
play of  influence  between  the  paper  and 
the  public. 

Another  obvious  aspect  of  sensational 
journalism  is  its  practice  of  exaggerating 
and  "doctoring"  the  news.  Mr.  Edwin 
L.  Shuman,  a  reporter  of  long  standing, 
writes  in  his  book,  Practical  Journalism, 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    73 

that  the  practice  of  supplementing  bald 
statements  of  facts  with  the  imagination, 
is  widespread  in  the  world  of  journalism. 
He  jokingly  comments  upon  the  current 
idea  of  a  chair  of  journalism  and  a  chair  of 
morals  in  the  same  university  and  upon  the 
confusion  and  doubt  into  which  a  student 
would  be  thrown  if  he  attended  both 
courses  at  the  same  time.  The  vividness 
with  which  the  merest  rumor  is  unreason- 
ably magnified  and  worked  up  is  too  well 
known. 

It  is  related  of  Ballard  Smith,  a  distin- 
guished editor  and  correspondent,  that  once 
during  the  "silly  season,"  when  things  were 
dull,  he  called  in  a  few  reporters  to  help 
him  read  the  afternoon  papers  and  try  to 
"make  a  piece  of  news"  for  tomorrow's 
paper.  Everything  was  read,  even  the 
advertisements.  "I  have  it!"  he  cried 
out  after  half  an  hour's  reading,  and, 
catching  up  a  big  pair  of  shears,  he  in- 
stantly clipped  out  a  three-line  paragraph 
and  handed  it  to  one.    It  was  simply  an 


74  The  American  Newspaper 

announcement  that  a  tiny  baby  girl  had 
been  found  in  a  vacant  lot  of  ground  in 
Harlem.  The  only  uncommon  feature  of 
the  case  was  that  the  infant  was  richly 
dressed.  "There!"  said  he  triumphantly. 
"It  is  five  o'clock,  and  by  midnight  we 
should  have  a  page,  or  nearly  that,  of  this 
in  type  or  ready  to  be  set  up.  You  write 
the  main  story.  See  the  place  where  the 
baby  was  found,  the  policeman  who  found 
it;  follow  it  to  Matron  Webb's  room  in  the 
police  headquarters,  where  all  the  found- 
lings are  first  taken,  and  get  a  long,  full 
account  from  the  matron  of  her  experi- 
ences with  such  cases — the  most  remark- 
able, the  strangest,  the  most  pathetic,  mov- 
ing, or  stirring  experiences  she  has  had. 
Then  jump  into  a  cab  and  go  to  the  asylum 
where  these  babies  are  brought  up,  and  to 
the  Potter's  Field  where  they  are  buried. 
The  idea  is  to  hang  the  whole  story  of  the 
treatment  of  foundlings  upon  the  case  of 
this  beautiful,  richly  dressed  baby  which  you 
are  to  use  as  the  text.     Before  you  start. 


Nature  oj  the  American  Newspaper    75 

map  out  the  work  bearing  on  the  subject  for 
the  rest  of  the  staff  to  do.  You  can  have 
twenty  reporters  if  you  need  them.  We 
will  drop  everything  else  and  tell  the  pub- 
lic, for  the  first  time,  the  story  of  a  found- 
ling." Thus  a  mere  hint  becomes  a  five- 
column  article  and  a  mere  rumor  becomes 
an  "extra." 

A  story  is  told  of  a  lively  impressionist 
who  came  to  Paris  to  take  charge  of  the 
local  edition  of  a  well-known  New  York 
paper.  One  Sunday  afternoon  he  rushed 
a  hurried  order  for  an  "extraordinary"  on 
the  ground  that  something  unusual,  some- 
thing like  a  new  French  Revolution  had 
begun  in  the  capital,  that  an  attempt  to 
assassinate  the  President  had  failed,  and 
that  armed  troops  lined  the  different  streets 
to  the  Palace.  All  that  had  really  hap- 
pened w^as  this:  He  had  seen  the  Presi- 
dent driving  to  his  palace  at  a  fast  pace 
wdth  a  terrifying  escort  of  cuirassiers  armed 
with  revolvers,  and  as  he  never  before  had 
seen    this    imposing    piece    of   pageantry 


76  The  American  Newspaper 

which  so  delights  the  GalHc  Republicans, 
he  became  excited  and  flashed  the  news  of 
revolution  across  the  Atlantic.  This  was 
''good"  journalism,  no  doubt,  but  suppose, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  a  French  corre- 
spondent were  to  cable  that  President 
Roosevelt  had  decided  to  abolish  the  army 
because  he  saw  him  receive  some  military- 
officers  in  mufti.  How  often  do  news- 
papers bring  out  in  one  evening  four  or 
five  ''extras"  when  really  nothing  new  of 
any  importance  has  happened.  Anything 
to  sell  the  papers  and  make  money. 
"Extras"  are  invented  just  for  this  pur- 
pose. Anything  will  serve  for  any  "extra ;" 
and,  as  has  been  already  suggested,  all  it 
needs  is  a  rumor  of  a  murder,  an  assault, 
a  theft,  or  an  accident. 

This  characteristic  tendency  to  exag- 
gerate and  "write  up"  every  rumor  is 
further  demonstrated  in  the  recent  "war 
talk"  between  the  sensational  papers  of 
Japan  and  of  this  country,  especially  those 
of  the  Pacific  slope.     In  spite  of  the  fre- 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    77 

quent  exchanges  of  courtesies  and  renewed 
protestations  of  friendship  between  the 
governments  of  Washington  and  Tokyo, 
these  papers  continued  to  bring  fresh  re- 
ports of  a  growing  estrangement  between 
the  two  nations,  of  secret  alHances,  and 
quiet  mihtary  maneuvers.  So  the  pubHc 
has  had  a  regular  "war  of  words  and 
rumors"  within  the  columns  of  these  un- 
reliable sheets.  I  have  just  returned  from  a 
trip  to  Japan,  where  I  interviewed  some 
of  the  more  educated  Japanese.  In  reply 
to  my  questions  they  were  positive  in  their 
assertion  that  it  was  a  mistake  to  think  that 
Japan  wants  to  fight  or  that  she  will  fight 
this  country.  They  openly  acknowledged 
that  their  country  was  in  no  condition  for  a 
war.  They  also  frankly  admitted  that  they 
are  at  present  burdened  by  enormous  taxes 
growing  out  of  an  immense  war  debt,  and 
there  has  been  a  failure  of  crops  for  three 
successive  years.  But  in  the  face  of  these 
facts,  the  sensational  newspapers  of  this 
country  would  have  us  believe  that  war 


78  The  American  Newspaper 

is  imminent  and  they  have  convinced  many 
people  that  such  is  the  case.  Again,  the 
newspaper  correspondents  who  reported 
that  the  Oklahoma  constitutional  conven- 
tion was  controlled  by  Indian  delegates 
who  filled  the  constitution  with  a  pictur- 
esque array  of  radical  planks  were  as  far 
as  possible  from  the  truth,  for  though  it 
appears  that  there  actually  were  two  In- 
dians who  were  members  of  the  conven- 
tion, they  belonged  to  the  minority  and  ex- 
pressly disapproved  of  the  radical  planks. 
These  are  but  a  few  of  many  instances 
illustrating  the  persistent  habit  of  our 
typical  American  newspapers  to  "doctor" 
news. 

The  fourth  and  perhaps  most  striking 
characteristic  of  American  newspapers  is 
the  "sensationalizing"  of  news.  This 
streak  of  yellow  runs  through  most  of  our 
large  city  dailies.  With  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  country  and  therefore  of  the  press, 
newspapers  give  more  and  more  attention 
to  crime,  sporting  news,  and  to  the  erratic 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    79 

behavior  of  "society."  Theft,  murder, 
and  assault  are  given  page  upon  page  in 
which  detailed  and  morbid  accounts  are 
accompanied  by  all  kinds  of  revolting 
pictures.  The  t3^pical  sensational  journal 
in  New  York  is  often  ridiculous,  often 
maddening,  sometimes  disgusting,  and 
occasionally  downright  wicked.  There 
have  been  many  examples  of  this  kind  of 
journalism  in  the  New  York  newspaper 
accounts  of  the  murders,  assaults,  and 
unusually  numerous  crimes  of  varying  seri- 
ousness with  which  the  New  York  police 
have  recently  had  to  deal.  To  such  an 
extent  was  this  kind  of  exaggerated  news 
exploited  that  some  of  the  more  conser- 
vative papers  were  forced  to  enter  a 
vigorous  protest. 

The  Evening  Post  said:  "No  one  at- 
tempting to  derive  an  estimate  of  the  pres- 
ent conditions  in  New  York  from  the  front 
page  contents  of  many  of  our  newspapers 
could  be  blamed  for  concluding  that  society 
is  on  the  verge  of  deplorable  anarchy 


8o  The  American  Newspaper 

The  alarm  is  being  sounded,  not  only  by 
publications  to  whose  thunderous  and 
shrieking  headlines  we  have  grown  accus- 
tomed, but  by  papers  which  professedly 
aspire  to  higher  journalistic  aims."  Similar 
accounts  of  a  suppositious  reign  of  crime 
that  raged  a  year  in  San  Francisco  (known 
among  newspaper  men  as  the  "  Siege  of  the 
Gas- Pipers")  materially  injured  the  best 
interests  of  that  city.  As  will  be  recalled, 
a  series  of  horrible  murders  and  thefts 
occurred  at  intervals  during  a  period  of  a 
few  months.  No  trace  of  the  perpetrators 
of  these  crimes  could  be  found.  The  hunt 
of  the  police  seemed  hopeless.  Soon  the 
papers  of  the  city  determined  that  the  city 
was  besieged  by  a  gang  of  notorious  crim- 
inals. These  accounts  were  spread  over 
the  country,  and  by  what  was  gleaned  from 
the  newspapers  it  seemed  as  if  San  Fran- 
cisco was  in  the  very  throes  of  a  criminal 
outbreak.  The  criminals  when  finally  dis- 
covered turned  out  to  be  two  young  men, 
one  of  wh  m  was  barely  eighteen.     In  a 


Nature  oj  the  American  Newspaper    8i 

similiar  way,  a  false  report  cabled  east  and 
to  Europe  of  the  many  cases  of  bubonic 
plague  breaking  out  in  Chinatown  was  most 
harmful  and  has  done  a  great  deal  toward 
keeping  visitors  and  business  from  our 
shores.  This  much  is  sufficient  to  illus- 
trate that  there  is  a  growing  tendency  in 
our  newspapers  to  tell  exaggerated  and 
disgusting  stories  and  to  relate  sensational 
tales  of  vice  and  of  the  sporting  world.  The 
detailed  discussion  given  in  our  sensational 
press  of  the  Thaw,  the  Needham,  and  the 
Durant  cases  is  full  of  danger  to  the  morals 
of  the  average  newspaper  reader,  especially 
the  young,  who  devour  outright  everything 
they  read. 

Our  newspapers  have  a  tendency  also  to 
print  that  which  is  ridiculous  and  trivial  in 
its  nature  and  this  common  habit  I  have 
called  the  "trivializing"  of  news.  Our 
newspapers  are  filled  with  stories  of  foreign 
courts,  with  the  intrigues,  scandals,  and 
erratic  doings  of  the  nobility.  The  gamb- 
ling and  suicides  at  Monte  Carlo  are  given 


82  The  American  Newspaper 

daily  notice.  All  that  is  frivolous  and 
eccentric  in  society,  the  so-called  "400's" 
and  ''500's"  of  American  society,  is  given 
special  attention.  Foreign  and  home  poli- 
tics are  neglected  for  this,  or  are  given  a 
less  conspicuous  place. 

This  daily  printing  of  the  ridiculous  is 
well  exemplified  in  the  story  told  by  a 
grizzled  "vet"  who  was  acquainted  with 
English  and  French  journalism  and  who 
epigrammatically  remarked  that,  "The 
French  newspapers  are  the  best  written 
but  the  worst  informed,  the  English  papers 
are  the  worst  written  but  the  best  in- 
formed." "And  the  American  news- 
papers?" asked  a  representative  of  this 
country.  "The  American  press,"  replied 
he,  "oscillates  between  the  two  extremes." 
Thereupon  he  produced  from  his  overcoat 
pocket  the  greatest  of  the  New  York 
papers  and  read  an  account  cabled  from 
Paris  l)y  a  special  correspondent.  It  told 
with  much  detail  of  a  cab-horse  who  knew 
his  way  about  the  Villa  Lumiere  so  well 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    83 

that  it  was  only  necessary  to  whisper  in 
his  ear,  "Gare  St.  Lazare,"  or  "Moulin 
Rouge,"  in  order  that  the  animal  should 
draw  the  cab  to  the  desired  destination  and 
by  the  shortest  route.  This  is  but  one  of 
a  hundred  cases,  where  ridiculous  matters 
creep  into  our  most  sane  and  reliable 
journals.  Reporters  seem  to  delight  in 
writing  nonsense.  In  such  matters,  Ameri- 
can journalism  has  been  universally  jeered 
at  and  it  has  deserved  the  jeers.  It  is  only 
too  well  known,  that  there  are  certain 
schools  of  journalism  which  aim  to  give 
prominence  to  the  ridiculous  and  incredu- 
lous even  while  they  lampoon  hypocrisy, 
jeer  at  conventions,  expose  pretenders, 
demolish  false  idols.  These  same  news- 
papers also  tend  to  destroy  faith  in  stand- 
ards, to  satirize  the  honest,  the  simiple,  and 
the  pure. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  accusation  that  can 
be  made  against  newspapers  of  this  country 
is  that  they  have  a  habit  of  printing  "false" 
news.     Our  foreign  correspondents'  igno- 


84  The  American  Newspaper 

ranee  of  the  politics,  the  language,  and  the 
social  institutions  of  the  country  in  which 
they  are  stationed  has  been  largely  at  fault, 
and  for  this  very  reason  our  foreign  news 
columns  have  been  the  cause  of  much 
merriment  to  journalists  of  other  countries. 
We  have  a  good  proof  of  this  in  the  famous 
Dreyfus  case,  when  reams  of  "stuff,"  not 
containing  one  ounce  of  truth,  were  bril- 
liantly written  and  accepted  as  true  by  the 
American  public.  News  was  manufac- 
tured by  the  wholesale.  Brilliant  journal- 
ists were  highly  paid  to  write  just  for 
"extras,"  which  were  published  during  the 
trial  sometimes  ten  times  a  day.  The  in- 
nocent public  was  daily  given  prejudiced 
and  untrue  accounts  of  the  trial.  Faked 
pictures  were  made.  Facts  were  misrepre- 
sented and  the  public  was  deceived. 

The  average  reporter  acts  on  the  danger- 
ous principle  that  false  news  is  better  than 
no  news.  He  often  goes  still  farther  and 
says  that  false  news  is  even  better  than  true 
news  if  the  former  is  of  more  interest  to  the 


Nature  oj  the  American  Newspaper    85 

general  public.  To  illustrate  this  tendency 
to  falsify  news,  a  humorous  story  is  told  of 
a  Parisian  foreign  correspondent  of  one  of 
our  newspapers  who  at  a  moment  of  con- 
siderable political  tension  at  the  French 
capital  received  a  cable  from  his  editor  in 
New  York  which  ran  something  like  this: 
"Interview  Delcasse  on  the  situation." 
"He  showed  me  the  telegram"  says  the 
narrator  of  the  story  and  asked, 

"  'Do  you  think  I  could  get  the  interview 
with  the  minister  ?'  " 

"  'No,'  I  hastily  replied. " 

"'Do  you  think  that  you  could  get  an 
interview  from  Delcasse?'  " 

"'No,'  was  my  immediate  answer." 

"'Could  anyone  interview  him  on  this 
situation  just  now  ?'  " 

"Again  my  answer  was  a  vehement 
'No!'" 

'"Very  well,  I  will  go  home  and  write  the 
thing  myself.' " 

And  he  did.  His  paper  reproduced  his 
copy  word  for  word,  with  enormous  head- 


86  The  American  Newspaper 

lines  and  faked  photographs.  Yet  this 
correspondent  was  unacquainted  with  Del- 
casse,  had  never  seen  him,  and  did  not 
know  the  A  B  C  of  that  intricate  and  diffi- 
cult subject — French  politics.  Faked  in- 
terviews are  often  written  up  in  this  way, 
and  this  is  but  a  typical  example  of  what 
I  have  termed  the  "falsifying"  of  news. 

The  most  fruitful  fields  for  false  news  are 
a  war  campaign,  the  intrigues  of  foreign 
princes,  or  the  adventures  of  some  young 
spendthrift.  To  illustrate  still  further  this 
common  practice  of  altering  and  perverting 
the  news  and  sometimes  inventing  it,  an 
astute  editor  is  reported  to  have  publicly 
said  that  he  believed  in  sending  to  cities 
young  men  who  knew  nothing  about  them, 
because  their  impressions,  even  if  they  were 
not  to  be  trusted,  were  still  attractive  and 
novel.  Perhaps  it  is  for  the  same  reason 
that  a  Frenchman's  description  of  a  base- 
ball game  makes  such  enjoyable  reading 
for  the  baseball  "fan."  It  seems  that 
there   is  no  profession   or  trade   in   the 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    87 

world  in  which  so  small  a  premium  is 
placed  on  great  ability  and  honest  work  and 
in  which  the  opportunities  for  scamped 
work,  shoddy  work,  blufif,  flash,  and  mere- 
tricious work  are  so  many.  INIen  with 
fertile  imaginations  seem  to  make  splendid 
reporters.  Men  who  can  dream  stories 
and  write  news  are  in  constant  demand  and 
are  paid  high  salaries.  In  sober  moments 
the  public  really  prefers  the  vivid  reality 
of  things  as  they  are  to  garnished  nonsense. 
Ordinarily,  however,  it  wants  "fake" 
stories,  for  these  are  interesting  and  excit- 
ing. "Fakes"  are  not  only  encountered 
in  the  "doctoring"  of  news  but  in  the 
"making"  of  photographs  as  well.  Fake 
pictures  of  persons  and  accidents  are  daily 
printed  in  newspapers.  Many  of  them 
employ  an  expert  artist  who  executes  in 
wash  a  picture  as  directed,  and  from  this  a 
photograph  is  taken  and  these  "fake" 
photographs  themselves  are  altered  and 
changed  to  suit  the  fancy  of  the  managing 
editor.    Another  splendid  instance  of  this 


88  The  American  Newspaper 

"falsifying"  of  news  occurred  the  other  day 
when  all  the  San  Francisco  newspapers 
reported  in  glowing  terms  a  vaudeville  show 
that  had  not  taken  place.  They  must  have 
written  their  account  of  it  from  a  progamme 
that  had  been  distributed.  From  notices 
of  dances,  theatricals,  and  receptions  news- 
papers write  big  stories  without  even  send- 
ing a  reporter.  Reporters  under  such  cir- 
cumstances are  unnecessary.  Moreover, 
photographs  are  often  printed  that  have  no 
resemblance  to  the  person  referred  to. 
How  many  times  have  unfortunate  celeb- 
rities seen  another's  picture  substituted  for 
their  own ! 

The  eighth  characteristic  of  American 
journalism  is  the  present  tendency  to 
"knock,"  the  tendency  which  received  from 
our  President  the  name  of  "muck-raking." 
Our  papers  are  always  ready  for  the  atti- 
tude of  criticism,  opposition,  and  attack. 
They  oppose  and  attack  our  political  and 
social  institutions.  They  lay  stress  upon 
all  that  is  evil  in  human  nature  and  public 


Nature  oj  the  American  Newspaper    89 

life.  In  this  way  they  develop  a  skeptical 
turn  of  mind  among  the  people.  They 
give  the  impression  that  all  men  are 
"grafters"  and  that  all  decent  movements 
for  reform  are  mere  pretenses.  This  habit 
of  belittling  everything  is  full  of  danger. 
The  average  city  daily  seems  to  see  no 
good  in  our  present  national  life.  If  one 
judged  from  the  statements  of  newspapers, 
wickedness  and  corruption  seem  to  stalk  in 
the  open  unmolested  and  even  invited. 
Thus  the  worst  side  of  our  national  and 
city  life  is  presented  to  our  gaze  in  big, 
black,  ugly  print  and  this  tends  to  create 
and  encourage  a  feeling  of  pessimism  and 
distrust  among  the  reading  public.  Be- 
cause of  this  utter  disregard  by  our  press 
of  persons  and  institutions  President  Roose- 
velt was  moved  to  make  his  famous 
"muck-rake"  speech  that  will  go  down  in 
history  as  a  classic  of  its  kind.  As  an 
illustration  of  this  characteristic  of  the 
press,  take  the  attitude  of  the  New  York 
papers  in  branding  the  latest  utterances  of 


go  The  American  Newspaper 

President  Roosevelt  against  the  trusts  and 
their  evil  doings  as  "unrestrained  and 
unregulated"  and  as  "full  of  much  alarm." 
This  is  but  two  of  many  instances  where 
the  community  is  sadly  neglected  by  its 
newspapers,  whenever  the  interests  of  these 
newspapers  and  their  officers  are  at  stake. 
This  tendency  to  write  about  the  evils  and 
sores  of  society  seems  to  be  growing  with  our 
papers ;  they  write  for  the  most  part  about 
morbid,  pathetic,  and  criminal  events.  They 
are  always  negative  in  their  comments. 

"Advertising"  by  means  of  the  news 
columns  is  a  more  recent  development  of 
modern  sensational  journalism  in  this 
country.  By  this  term  "advertising  by 
news,"  is  meant  the  common  practice  of 
so  writing  and  selecting  news  that  it  will 
be  an  advertisement  to  the  paper.  In  this 
way  the  paper  will  gain  new  subscribers 
and  its  increased  circulation  will  in  turn 
increase  its  number  of  advertisers.  To 
understand  fully  this  latest  characteristic, 
one  must  study  the  process  of  the  "com- 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    91 

mercializing"  of  news.  Modern  American 
journalism  is  menaced  by  the  absolute 
dominance  of  the  counting-house.  Wall 
Street  dictates  to  Park  Row.  The  Al- 
mighty Dollar  rules  the  day.  The  adver- 
tising columns  more  largely  determine  the 
policy  of  the  newspaper  than  do  its  officers. 
It  is  largely  sensational  in  order  to  attract 
the  attention  of  people  to  the  advertising 
columns.  The  modern  newspaper  is 
owned  today  not  only  for  power  but  for 
financial  reasons.  It  is  maintained  only 
so  long  as  it  returns  a  decent  revenue  and 
is  run  at  a  profit.  It  is  primarily  a  money- 
making  scheme  and  therefore  like  the  up- 
to-date  business  man,  the  newspaper  owner 
seeks  first  of  all  to  satisfy  the  demand  of  his 
subscribers.  Therefore  our  editors  and 
reporters  are  ordered  and  forced  to  write 
only  that  class  of  news  that  will  gain  new 
subscribers  and  increase  the  number  of 
pages  of  advertisements.  This  character- 
istic is  becoming  more  and  more  a  per- 
manent one. 


92  The  American  Newspaper 

Among  the  features  of  modern  journal- 
ism which  repel  men  of  education  and  indi- 
viduality, one  of  the  most  prominent  is 
the  tendency  toward  what  the  writer  has 
called  for  want  of  a  better  term  "imper- 
sonalism."  Today  the  practice  is  to  write 
unsigned  articles  and  under  this  privilege 
many  reporters  indulge  in  a  license  that 
they  would  not  dare  to  assume  if  they  signed 
their  names  as  did  our  forefathers.  The 
cause  of  this  sense  of  irresponsibility  can 
be  traced  to  the  change  of  ownership  from 
the  private  editor  to  the  group  of  individuals 
of  the  corporation.  It  is  this  large  and 
corporate  nature  of  the  newspapers  which 
induces  irresponsibility  by  removing  per- 
sonal responsibility.  Reporters  feel  that 
they  are  not  compelled  to  give  an  account 
of  themselves;  they  are  exempted  from 
blame.  They  are  accountable  to  no  one 
but  their  employers  and  so  are  not  imme- 
diately subject  to  the  law.  With  the 
change  of  ownership  from  the  individual, 
who  was  generally  the  editor,  to  the  stock 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    93 

companies  now  controlling  our  large  morn- 
ing dailies,  the  effacement  of  the  individual 
has  been  complete.  The  present  organiza- 
tion of  the  modern  newspapers  calls  less  for 
individual  leadership  than  it  does  for  organ- 
ization and  system.  Journalism  under  the 
old  system  of  individualism  was  a  pro- 
fession, but  today  it  is  nothing  more  than  a 
trade.  The  large  newspaper  is  an  insti- 
tution that  requires  a  large  capital  to  insure 
success.  Such  sums  are  usually  beyond 
the  means  of  a  single  individual.  As  a 
result,  newspapers  are  owned  by  corpora- 
tions, political  parties,  and  capitalists. 
What  we  really  need  therefore  is  a  revival 
of  the  old  type  of  journalism  which  was  the 
clarion  voice  of  vigorous  personality  and 
responsibility.  Men  then  were  careful  of 
what  they  wrote  and  were  fastidious  in 
their  language.  Impersonalism  in  modern 
journalism  means  irresponsible  journalism 
such  as  we  have  today.  Irresponsible 
journalism  means  decadence  of  power  and 
the  gradual  decline  of  journalism  as  an 


94  The  American  Newspaper 

educative  force  and  as  a  moral  factor  in 
the  community.  Hence,  unless  American 
journalism  is  saved  from  mercenary  im- 
personalism,  it  must  ultimately  degenerate 
into  a  mere  bargain-counter  sale  of  adver- 
tising space  and  irresponsible  narratives  of 
daily  events. 

The  next  characteristic  of  our  news- 
papers needs  but  passing  notice,  for  it  is 
quite  familiar  to  most  readers.  It  is 
"partisanship."  Almost  all  papers  are 
members  of  some  one  of  the  great  political 
parties.  They  owe  allegiance  to  some  polit- 
ical organization  and  print  news  in  the 
interest  of  that  organization  and  to  the 
detriment  of  their  opponents.  In  order  to 
do  this,  they  of  course  alter  and  twist  facts 
to  suit  their  partisan  views ;  they  only  give 
one  side  of  the  case.  Generally  the  leaders 
of  the  party  own  and  control  the  papers. 
In  fact  most  editors  "do"  politics  in  their 
own  interests  and  "do"  this  politics  with 
their  paper.  The  presidential  campaign 
for  1908  between  Taft  and  Bryan  was  con- 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    95 

ducted  chiefly  by  men  who  were  in  some 
way  connected  with  a  newspaper.  The 
whole  campaign  was  not,  as  of  old,  one  of 
the  "stump"  but  rather  one  of  the  "press." 
It  was  through  the  news  columns  that  the 
party  leaders  hoped  to  make  votes.  The 
intelligent  reader  can  tolerate  any  kind  of 
editorial  vehemence  or  partisanship,  but 
he  is  impatient  with  any  prejudice  in  the 
news  columns.  So  familiar  is  the  fact  that 
papers  are  printed  in  the  interest  of  some 
particular  group  that  intelligent  people 
make  allowance  for  just  such  partisanship 
and  read  between  the  lines.  The  average 
reader,  however,  is  easily  deceived  and  be- 
lieves what  he  reads. 

I  will  now  turn  to  the  last  and  twelfth 
characteristic  of  American  journalism :  the 
habit  of  our  papers  to  flout  public  law  and 
order.  They  belittle  our  public  oflicials, 
they  throw  mud  at  our  leaders,  they  criti- 
cize and  assail  our  President  and  other 
representatives  of  government.  They  sneer 
incessantly  at  public  institutions  and  talk 


^ 


96  The  American  Newspaper 

lightly  of  our  laws.  They  deride  the  police. 
In  brief,  they  not  only  disregard  the  law 
themselves  but  encourage  a  disrespect  for 
it  among  the  people.  The  following  clip- 
ping from  one  of  San  Francisco's  morning 
dailies  will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  our 
point.     To  quote: 

Though  William  E.  Dargie,  owner  and  editor 
of  the  Oakland  Tribune,  ran  away  to  avoid  having 
his  deposition  taken  in  the  libel  suit  brought  against 
him  by  the  National  Band  of  this  city  and  is  still 
a  fugitive,  the  legal  probing  into  Dargie's  motives 

for  defending  the  grafters  is  going  ahead 

Yesterday  the  deposition  in  the  case  was  taken. 
It  revealed  as  the  author  of  the  alleged  Ubel  a  city 
newspaper  man,  the  political  editor  of  the  San 
Francisco  Chronicle.  He  told  how  Dargie  had 
hired  him  some  weeks  before  at  fifty  dollars  a 
week.  He  admitted  that  he  did  not  know  person- 
ally that  any  of  the  statements  in  the  alleged  libel 
were  true;  that  he  made  no  effort  to  verify  what 
he  wrote;  that  he  could  not  remember  who  told 
him  any  of  these  things,  nor  when,  nor  in  whose 
presence. 

In  a  word,  the  newspapers  seem  to  con- 
sider themselves  immune  from  the  law  and 


Nature  of  the  American  Newspaper    97 

as  a  consequence  freedom  of  the  press  has 
come  to  mean  license  and  a  pubh'c  nuisance. 
Such  in  detail  is  the  nature  of  the  Ameri- 
can press — a  press  whose  main  ambitions 
are  on  the  whole  to  attract  attention,  to 
play  upon  the  people's  whims  and  moods, 
to  seek  madly  after  news,  which  is  then 
doctored,  faked,  and  twisted  to  suit  the 
interests  of  the  paper  and  the  taste  of  the 
frivolous  and  the  curious;  a  press  which  is 
essentially  commercial  and  irresponsible. 


THE   INFLUENCE   OF  THE  AMER- 
ICAN NEWSPAPER 


\ 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
NEWSPAPER 

A  cursory  review  of  the  general  influence 
of  the  American  press  points  to  the  fact 
that  newspapers  exercise  an  influence  in 
America  more  far-reaching  than  in  any 
other  country.  Archbishop  Corrigan  once 
remarked : 

Nowhere  in  the  world  has  the  press  found  a 
larger  and  more  receptive  audience  than  on  our 
shores.  Here  everyone  reads;  everyone,  even  the 
poorest,  is  rich  enough  to  buy  the  daily  papers; 
here  more  than  elsewhere,  in  our  characteristic 
hurry  to  save  time  and  labor,  we  are  willing  to 
allow  others  to  do  our  thinking  and  to  serve  us  not 
only  with  the  daily  history  of  the  world,  but  with 
lines  of  thought  and  suggestions  of  conduct  ready 
for  use. 

Herein  lies  the  great  power  of  the  press, 
its  power  to  suggest  to  a  whole  community 
what  it  should  think  and  do.  Herein  lies 
the  great  opportunity  of  any  newspaper  to 


I02         The  American  Newspaper 

become  a  powerful  influence  in  the  body 
politic  for  good  or  for  evil.  There  is 
danger  as  well  as  hope  in  this  opportunity, 
and  the  public  must  suffer  the  consequences 
of  the  choice  of  the  editor  whether  he  will 
dedicate  his  paper  to  the  interest  of  the  com- 
munity or  not. 

The  average  American  is  an  inveterate 
newspaper  reader.  There  are  many  rea- 
sons for  this,  but  the  most  important  one 
is  the  high  level  of  education  and  intelli- 
gence among  the  common  people  of  this 
country.  In  Europe,  as  a  rule,  it  is  only 
the  upper  and  middle  classes  that  read 
newspapers.  There  the  great  masses  of 
the  plain  people  are  either  too  ignorant, 
too  busy,  or  too  indifferent  to  read.  Eng- 
land is  an  exception  to  this  rule,  for  there, 
as  in  the  United  States,  the  average  Eng- 
lish mechanic  and  laborer  subscribes  to  a 
newspaper.  It  is  reckoned  that  in  the 
United  States  more  than  5,000,000,000 
copies  of  newspapers  of  all  kinds  are  pub- 
lished annnally.   In  1896,  there  were  20,630 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  103 

newspapers  published  in  this  country  and 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  today  there  are  over 
25,000.  This  is  more  than  double  the 
number  published  in  any  other  country. 
A  glance  at  these  figures  readily  convinces 
one  of  the  immense  power  the  press  may 
wield  to  the  advantage  or  the  detriment  of 
the  nation.  This  power  is  enormously 
increased  by  the  fact  that  it  is  the  plain 
people  that  make  up  the  great  mass  of 
the  reading  public  and  that  it  is  to  this 
group  that  the  newspapers  cater  and  ap- 
peal. For  the  most  part,  the  average  man 
seeks  his  theology,  his  politics,  his  creed 
in  the  newspapers.  The  newspaper  is  the 
source  of  his  knowledge,  and  what  it  pub- 
lishes he  believes  as  "gospel  truth."  The 
modern  American  newspaper  is  to  the 
average  American  reader  what  the  Gre- 
cian oracle  at  Delphi  was  to  the  ancient 
Greek. 

When  one  stops  to  reflect  upon  these 
significant  facts,  one  is  appalled  at  the 
influence  of  the  press  and  startled  by  its 


104         The  American  Newspaper 

opportunities  to  do  harm.  Great  power 
always  brings  with  it  many  temptations; 
the  great  man  is  always  confronted  by  the 
hardest  temptations,  and  so  any  organ  that 
can  control  the  thought  and  conduct  of  a 
people  is  face  to  face  with  temptation  and 
the  interest  of  the  community  is  at  stake. 
In  view  of  all  this  one  may  well  ask,  What 
is  the  influence  of  the  schools  and  other 
educational  agencies  as  compared  with  the 
daily  paper  which  records  every  important 
act  and  utterance  of  humanity?  The 
newspaper  overshadows  every  other  edu- 
cational agency.  The  lecture-room,  the 
pulpit,  the  public  meeting,  the  pamphlet, 
the  book  are  relatively  unimportant,  for 
whereas  these  reach  but  a  small  minority 
of  the  people  during  irregular  intervals,  the 
daily  paper  comes  constantly  in  touch  with 
the  great  masses  who  read  it  and  depend 
upon  it  for  their  information  and  recreation. 
Ready-made  opinions  appeal  to  people 
who  have  little  time  and  less  zeal  for  dis- 
cussion.    Nowadays    most    of    what    we 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  105 

wear,  eat,  and  think  is  "ready  made." 
We  realize  better  the  significance  of  this 
statement  when  we  remember  that  today 
one  gets  for  a  penny  a  mass  of  reading- 
matter  equal  to  the  contents  of  a  thick  book 
and  often  produced  at  an  expense  a  hun- 
dredfold greater  than  that  of  a  book.  One 
is  told  what  is  going  on  over  the  wide 
world,  what  men  are  thinking  elsewhere, 
and  what  is  being  done  in  every  department 
of  literature  and  art.  So  crowded  is  the 
reader  with  a  mass  of  news  and  so  pressed 
is  he  for  time  that  he  is  often  at  a  loss  to 
give  a  connected  account  of  the  really  im- 
portant daily  events,  even  after  he  has 
read  a  newspaper  for  an  hour.  His  rapid 
review  of  the  headlines  and  paragraphs 
muddles  his  brain  and  his  extensive  reading 
of  the  columns  confuses  him.  As  a  result, 
he  is  unable  to  digest  what  he  has  read. 

So  keen  is  the  competition  between  news- 
papers to  give  variety  and  plenty  of  news, 
that  they  go  to  much  expense  and  trouble 
to  outdo  each  other  in  giving  the  most  news 


io6         The  American  Newspaper 

for  the  least  money.  In  order  to  do  this, 
they  are  forced  to  "pad"  and  to  put  into 
print  much  that  is  extraneous  and  much 
that  could  be  omitted.  They  are  con 
fronted  with  the  demand  and  they  care  not 
what  it  is,  so  long  as  they  supply  it  and  sell 
their  papers.  All  this  of  course  poisons 
the  mind  and  loads  it  with  exaggerated 
ideas  and  half  truths.  As  the  wise  man  said, 
"He  who  is  half-educated  is  a  dangerous 
man."  To  develop  this  thought  a  little 
farther  without  anticipating  what  is  to 
follow,  it  seems  appropriate  to  remark  here 
that  all  information  that  is  useless  is  worse 
than  useless  because  it  distracts  attention, 
wastes  time,  and  dissipates  energy.  This 
is  at  the  expense  of  the  country,  for  it 
suffers  when  the  attention,  time,  and  energy 
of  the  people  are  spent  on  nonessentials. 
How  much  better  would  it  be  if  this  same 
amount  of  time,  attention,  and  energy  were 
devoted  to  the  interest  of  the.  state !  The 
newspaper  has  developed  a  class  of  "news- 
paper readers"  who  devour  every  word. 


Injiuence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  107 

every  column,  and  every  page,  and  who 
quote  it,  believe  in  it,  and  live  by  it.  Most 
people's  reading  stops  at  the  newspaper, 
and  even  those  who  do  not  take  their  opin- 
ions direct  from  leading  articles  have  their 
intellectual  standards  and  their  method 
of  reasoning  impaired  by  reading  the  main 
body  of  the  newspaper.  In  view  of  this, 
one  feels  strongly  that  if  our  newspapers 
only  knew  what  was  demanded  by  the  best 
standards  and  were  ready  to  act  on  this 
knowledge,  our  rate  of  national  and  indi- 
vidual progress  toward  a  reign  of  equity  and 
reason  would  be  amazing. 

I  am  not  losing  sight  of  the  fact  that  there 
are  plenty  of  cases  in  which  the  power  of 
the  press  has  been  exerted  for  good.  I  have 
already  referred  to  the  many  exaggerated 
stories  printed  in  connection  with  the  Drey- 
fus trial,  but  at  the  same  time  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  certain  aspects  of  that 
trial  afford  an  excellent  example  of  the 
value  of  the  press.  The  French  courts 
tried  to  disregard  the  truth  and  to  do  this 


io8        The  American  Newspaper 

they  attempted  to  exclude  the  reporters. 
The  foreign  newspapers,  however,  made 
so  determined  a  stand  that  the  French 
government  finally  surrendered.  One 
might  well  say  that  it  was  public  opinion 
formed  by  the  foreign  press  which  com- 
pelled the  French  to  give  Dreyfus  another 
trial  and  to  set  him  free.  Another  instance 
of  the  good  done  by  newspapers  is  told  in  a 
story  that  a  reporter  relates  of  his  first 
assignment : 

Half  a  dozen  New  York  correspondents  went  to 
the  jail  in  Newcastle  on  the  day  set  for  a  whipping. 
When  we  asked  the  sheriff  to  allow  us  to  go  in  the 
jail-yard  we  told  him  plainly  that  if  the  woman 
was  whipped  we  should  be  the  means  of  arousing 
such  indignation  throughout  the  land  that  he  would 
find  no  hole  or  corner  in  which  to  hide  from  the 
outburst  of  scorn  and  wrath  that  would  pour  down 
upon  him. 

That  whipping  did  not  take  place ;  more- 
over, whipping  criminals  was  abandoned 
for  the  future.  Another  instance  of  the 
power  of  the  press  in  a  good  cause  can  be 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  109 

seen  in  its  fight  for  the  aboHtion  of  the  con- 
vict slave  trade  in  the  southern  states, 
especially  Georgia.  Further,  besides  form- 
ing public  opinion  on  important  political 
and  social  problems,  newspapers  are  in- 
fluential in  small  things.  To  relate  another 
experience  of  a  reporter : 

To  descend  to  a  little  thing,  as  it  will  seem  to 
my  well-to-do  readers,  I  once  put  an  end  to  an 
unjust  law  preventing  the  playing  of  barrel-organs 
in  the  streets  of  New  York.  I  say  I  did  it;  in 
truth,  I  aroused  the  forces  that  did  do  it.  I  had 
many  thousand  times  seen  what  the  playing  of  a 
street-organ  meant  to  the  poor  in  the  crowded 
tenement  districts.  I  had  seen  how  the  children 
danced  to  its  music,  how  their  mothers  came  to 
the  windows  to  lean  out  and  Usten,  how  the  lads 
and  the  men  drew  near  and  whistled  or  sang  the 

tunes When  the  aldermen  declared  that 

the  street  music  must  be  stopped  I  thought  only  of 
the  million  who  loved  it  and  who  got  far  too  little 
pleasure.  I  wrote  to  all  the  newspapers,  I  inter- 
viewed the  editors,  I  published  letters,  editorials, 
and  descriptive  accounts  of  what  I  had  seen  in  the 
world  out-of-doors.  The  law  was  never  put  into 
effect  and  soon  afterward  it  was  annulled. 


no         The  American  Newspaper 

This  shows  what  a  single  reporter  who 
set  in  motion  the  forces  which  mold  and 
change  public  opinion  accomplished.  A 
single  individual,  allied  with  the  press,  was 
strong  enough  to  defy  the  city  fathers  who 
had  decided  that  this  kind  of  music  was 
a  public  nuisance. 

But  it  is  not  in  good  causes,  little  or  big, 
that  the  power  of  the  American  press  is  for 
the  most  part  exerted.  On  the  contrary, 
our  newspapers  tend  directly  to  affect  the 
morale  of  the  community  along  the  lines 
of  its  vices  rather  than  of  its  virtues.  By 
vices  are  meant  tendencies  essentially 
savage  and  non-social,  and  these  the  mass 
of  newspaper  material  stimulates  and  per- 
petuates. The  newspaper  has  become  in 
fact  a  medium  for  a  persistent  pandering  to 
the  primitive  love  of  sensation  and  to  pre- 
judiced judgments  of  persons  and  nations 
and  of  the  ultimate  facts  of  life.  In  short, 
it  appeals  to  the  worst  instincts  in  man :  to 
his  brutal  passions  and  morbid  imagina- 
tion.   Its  tone  for  the  most  part  tends  to 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  1 1 1 

create  a  satirical  and  skeptical  point  of 
view  concerning  government,  a  contempt 
for  laws,  and  a  distrust  of-  those  who  are 
empowered  to  make  and  carry  them  out. 
The  love  of  disaster  to  others  is  cont'nually 
kept  up,  the  appeal  here  being  to  a  common 
weakness — to  jealous  human  nature.  In 
the  field  of  industry  current  prejudices  are 
strengthened,  just  as  in  literature  stand- 
ards of  mediocrity  are  set.  In  all  fields  of 
thought  and  action,  the  love  of  the  common- 
place is  catered  to  and  developed. 

It  is  perhaps  somewhat  of  a  truism  that 
reading  affects  habits  of  thought  and  that 
habits  of  thought  give  rise  to  habits  of 
action,  but  any  truism  which  continues  to 
interpret  acts,  bears  repetition.  Man  is 
largely  a  bundle  of  instincts ;  habits  play  a 
big  role  in  his  daily  life  and  his  morality  is 
largely  made  of  these  two  elements — 
habits  of  thought  and  habits  of  action. 
Any  influence  then  which  bears  upon  these 
two  elements  affects  his  character.  It 
has  been  wisely  said,  "Tell  me  what  you 


112        The  American  Newspaper 

read  and  I  will  tell  you  what  you  are,"  and 
this  saying  is  most  emphatically  true, 
especially  of  the  non-intelligent  and  non- 
cultured  reader. 

Let  it  be  conceded  then  that  what  the 
individual  reads  reacts  upon  his  character. 
If  he  is  in  the  habit  of  reading  that  which 
is  ugly,  vulgar,  and  low,  he  himself  will 
form  habits  that  are  ugly,  vulgar,  and  low. 
If  a  man's  reading  is  confined  to  the  non- 
sensical and  the  brutal,  he  ceases  to  be 
able  to  detect  brutality  and  nonsense.  If 
he  reads  nothing  but  what  is  ugly  and  taste- 
less he  loses  his  sense  of  beauty  and  his 
taste.  A  bad  newspaper  is  as  insidious  as 
the  music  hall  or  the  musical  farce.  It 
wields  a  great  power  through  suggestion :  it 
hints  and  gives  ideas,  it  suggests  lines  of 
thought  and  conduct,  and  through  the 
medium  of  suggestion  it  affects  the  morale 
of  the  community. 

Morality  is  the  product  of  civilization; 
it  is  the  result  of  human  reasoning  and  of 
acquired  instincts  which  shape  the  environ- 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  113 

ment  about  man  just  as  that  environment 
reacts  to  reshape  those  instincts.  It  follows 
that  it  is  by  a  study  of  the  social  forces 
which  tend  to  shape  already  established 
instincts  that  one  can  get  the  direction  of 
social  development,  and  chief  among  the 
social  forces  playing  upon  men  in  society 
today  is  the  modern  newspaper. 

When  we  stop  to  consider  the  above 
truths  and  relate  them  to  the  fact  already 
mentioned,  that  in  this  country  the  daily 
paper  is  regularly  read  by  millions  of 
readers  of  average  intelligence,  the  tre- 
mendous power  of  the  press  is  obvious. 
We  must  remember  also  that  it  is  only 
within  a  comparatively  short  period  that 
many  people  have  read  newspapers.  A 
few  decades  ago  it  was  considered  a  luxury 
to  subscribe  to  a  newspaper.  The  reading 
of  a  newspaper  was  a  privilege  given  to  only 
a  few.  Newspapers  then  represented 
certain  classes,  and  the  classes  that  habitu- 
ally read  daily  papers  were  business  and 
professional  men  interested  in  the  larger 


114        The  American  Newspaper 

affairs  of  life.  As  a  result  of  this,  the 
newspaper  was  dignified  and  excluded  all 
traces  of  sensationalism.  It  is  very  different 
today.  Newspapers  are  read  by  everybody 
everywhere.  No  one  is  too  poor  to  buy  a 
paper ;  no  one  is  too  ignorant  to  read.  News- 
papers are  now  for  the  masses  and  not  for 
the  classes,  and  this  fact  largely  determines 
the  character  and  policy  of  the  paper.  It 
prints  that  class  of  news  which  caters  to 
the  masses,  namely,  that  which  is  sensa- 
tional and  commonplace. 

When  the  present-day  newspaper  growth 
began,  there  were  20,000  to  30,000  persons 
who  had  their  newspapers  but  there  were 
100,000  of  the  middle  class  and  1,000,000 
of  the  poorer  class  who  had  no  newspaper. 
The  elder  Mr.  Bennett  went  after  that 
million  and  hundred  thousand,  and  all  that 
newspaper  men  have  since  done  has  been 
to  appreciate  and  elaborate  his  conception 
of  the  field  and  scope  of  the  newspaper. 

In  our  review  of  the  influence  of  the 
American  newspaper  we  shall  consider  it 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  115 

under  the  following  heads:  (i)  Its  influ- 
ence on  the  reader  of  average  intelligence 
and  education,  with  reference  to  his  habits 
of  thought  and  the  development  of  his 
ideas  along  political,  economic,  and  cul- 
tural lines ;  (2)  its  influence  on  the  ignorant 
masses,  i.e.,  the  class  which  in  Europe  does 
not  read  at  all  but  which  in  America  has 
risen  above  the  level  of  the  illiterate;  (3) 
its  influence  on  the  young;  (4)  its  influence 
on  the  national  life.  In  considering  these 
topics,  the  twofold  influence  of  the  news- 
paper is  to  be  borne  in  memory.  First, 
those  who  read  are  directly  affected  not 
only  by  what  is  printed  as  in  the  case  of 
other  printed  matter,  but  also  by  the  feeling 
that  the  paper,  which  goes  regularly  to  a 
large  list  of  subscribers,  is  in  a  sense  the 
voice  of  these  subscribers.  That  is  to  say, 
the  influence  of  newspapers  depends  in 
part  upon  the  opinion  of  their  readers. 
This  statement  appears  to  be  paradoxical, 
but  as  will  be  seen  later  there  is  much  truth 
in  it.     Secondly,  the  skilful  editor  succeeds 


ii6         The  American  Newspaper 

admirably  in  so  selecting  and  altering  news 
that  he  disguises  leadership  under  the  sem- 
blance of  public  opinion.  It  is  this  latter 
phase  of  newspaper  influence  which  par- 
ticularly interests  us.  It  is  the  way  a 
newspaper  prints  its  news  and  the  purpose 
it  has  in  view  which  concern  us  more  than 
what  it  prints.  In  other  words,  we  are 
concerned  with  the  policy,  motive,  and 
method  of  modern  newspapers. 

The  keenest  interest  of  the  average 
American  is  centered  in  government  and 
politics.  Let  us  see  what  message  the 
press  carries  to  its  readers  on  this  subject. 

The  influence  which  newspapers  exer- 
cise upon  political  opinion  in  this  country 
can  hardly  be  exaggerated.  It  may  be 
said  that  state  and  even  national  elections 
are  frequently  determined  by  the  attitude 
of  the  press  toward  ofhce  holders  and  the 
laws  on  the  statute  books.  Here  is  a 
gigantic  force  in  the  community  capable  of 
molding  public  opinion  and  actually 
doing  it  by  methods  outlined  in  chapter  one. 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  117 

Instead  of  an  ideal  non-partisan  press 
offering  to  inquiring  minds  a  correct  state- 
ment of  the  facts  concerning  the  character 
of  the  candidates,  the  nature  of  the  cam- 
paign issues,  and  the  hke,  we  find  a  press 
frequently  and  deliberately  misleading  the 
people  by  partial  or  self-interested  state- 
ments. Let  us  see  how  this  affects  our 
city  and  state  governments. 

In  the  first  place,  it  keeps  the  best  men 
out  of  public  office.  Every  class,  whether 
it  be  the  "vested  interests"  or  the  ward 
politician,  fears  the  enmity  of  the  news- 
papers. The  candidate  who  has  the  papers 
of  his  town  against  him  has  small  chance 
of  election.  When  a  journal  is  anxious 
to  have  an  official  do  a  thing,  it  at  once 
proceeds  to  show  him  that  he  must  sub- 
mit to  its  will.  The  average  official  sub- 
mits without  a  protest.  He  knows  how 
to  be  good  when  it  is  to  his  interest.  Let 
an  official  go  counter  to  a  newspaper's 
policy  and  at  once  it  sets  the  public  on  his 
trail;    it   uncovers   or   manufactures   un- 


1 1 8        The  A  merican  Newspaper 

savory  details  of  his  private  life,  and  like  a 
bloodhound  seeks  every  clue  that  will 
result  in  his  downfall.  Often,  as  a  result, 
public  officers  are  reduced  to  mere  dele- 
gates and  dare  not  exercise  any  independ- 
ence of  thought,  as,  for  example,  in  the 
famous  Pennsylvania  case  that  gave  rise 
to  the  Grady-Salers  libel  law  of  that  state. 
In  thus  intimidating  public  officials,  news- 
papers meddle  with  the  law;  they  pervert 
the  law.  During  election  campaigns,  the 
newspapers  collect  scandalous  or  highly 
laudatory  data  about  candidates  and  in 
every  way  color  their  issues  in  favor  of  the 
side  which  they  are  supporting.  Only  too 
often  it  is  newspaper  influence  that  has 
persuaded  a  city  to  elect  unrighteous  or 
incapable  officials.  Men  seeing  how  pub- 
lic servants  are  badly  handled  by  a  partisan 
and  adverse  press  turn  away  in  disgust  and 
refuse  to  take  any  interest  in  public  affairs. 
Men  of  refinement  naturally  shrink  from 
having  the  glare  of  publicity  thrown  on 
their  private  business  and  family  life.     It 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  119 

seems  fair  to  believe  that  this  is  one  of  the 
chief  reasons  why  the  nation  lacks  intelli- 
gent and  patriotic  public  officials  and  so 
becomes  the  prey  for  class,  as  well  as  party, 
politics.  There  are  some  newspapers  in 
this  country  that  divide  the  voters  on  class 
instead  of  on  political  questions.  This 
class  distinction  is  made  on  the  basis  of 
wealth.  An  eminent  divine,  once  a  public 
servant,  truly  wrote : 

The  indiscriminate  criticism  and  abuse  of  pub- 
lic men  cannot  be  too  severely  reprehended.  It 
lowers  the  tone  of  the  press  and  is  destructive  of 
pubUc  morals.  INIany  good  men  are  deterred  from 
entering  political  Hfe  out  of  personal,  family,  social, 
or  business  considerations  which  have  arisen  from 
a  justifiable  fear  of  the  reckless  attacks  that  may 
be  made  upon  them.  Sensitive  natures  although 
conscious  of  high  moral  rectitude  will  thus  shrink 
from  serving  the  people. 

This  ruthless  and  indiscriminate  abuse 
of  public  men  by  our  newspapers  is  one  of 
the  unfortunate  conditions  that  attach  to 
the  freedom  of  our  institutions.  As  has 
already  been  said,  it  tends  to  prevent  a 


I20         The  American  Newspaper 

really  meritorious  class  of  citizens,  a  class 
greatly  needed  and  wanted,  from  entering 
political  life.  It  keeps  away  successful 
business  men,  who  would  make  splendid 
administrative  officers  for  our  cities.  ^A 
glance  over  the  majority  of  American  news- 
papers will  readily  convince  one  that  our 
press  resorts  more  to  vilification  and  calum- 
ny than  to  argument  and  reason.  News- 
papers in  their  praise  and  blame  run  in 
ruts,  so  that  no  matter  what  a  man  does, 
it  is  easy  to  predict  what  the  paper  will 
print.  If  it  is  a  man  they  are  in  the  habit 
of  vilifying,  they  will  say  harsh  things 
about  him,  no  matter  what  he  may  have 
done.  If  it  happens  to  be  a  man  whom 
they  have  in  the  past  been  in  the  habit  of 
praising  they  will  praise  him  again  even 
though  he  may  have  committed  a  crime. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  they  first  form 
their  opinions  of  men,  as  of  institutions 
and  things,  newspapers  are  hasty  and  im- 
petuous. They  are,  moreover,  aggressive 
in  forcing  their  views  upon  their  readers. 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  121 

It  is  not  forgotten  that  Nast's  cartoons  of 
Tweed  and  his  ring  were  entirely  justi- 
fied and  brought  iniquitous  Tammany  Hall 
to  justice.  Yet  the  cartoons  of  Davenport 
have  been  used  to  vilify  the  character  of 
honest  and  illustrious  statesmen.  His 
hideous  characterization  of  McKinley  and 
Mark  Hanna  were  entirely  unwarranted. 
They  were  downright  brutal.  Many  assert 
that  these  cartoons  were  responsible  for  the 
shooting  cf  McKinley.  From  such  news- 
paper standards  as  these  it  is  a  relief  to 
turn  to  a  paper  like  the  Evening  Post,  a 
splendid  example  of  the  higher  type  of 
paper.  There  are  many  such  papers  in 
this  country,  but  unfortunately  they  are 
in  a  small  minority  in  the  city.  The 
average  city  newspaper  fails  to  realize  that 
freedom  of  speech  should  not  mean  law- 
lessness of  the  press.  In  adopting  a 
policy  of  partisan  calumny  or  praise,  the 
newspaper  helps  to  bring  about  the  de- 
plorable situation  in  which  the  govern- 
ment of  cities,  states,  and  xiation  is  rele- 


122        The  American  Newspaper 

gated  to  men  who  are  in  many  cases  vicious 
or  unduly  self-seeking. 

Besides  electing  their  own  officials  to 
governmental  positions,  newspapers  often 
have  constructive  policies  in  regard  to  legis- 
lation. They  have  bills  which  they  formu- 
late and  push  through  with  the  aid  of  their 
representatives  in  the  legislature.  Many 
editors  hold  political  office.  A  careful 
survey  of  the  roll  of  municipal,  state,  and 
federal  officers  shows  the  names  of  a  large 
number  of  newspaper  men,  and  the  papers 
these  men  edit  too  often  take  an  unwar- 
ranted share  in  controlling  legislation. 
They  not  only  present  or  cause  to  be  pre- 
sented measures  which  are  nothing  more 
than  their  own  pet  schemes,  but  they  make 
readers  believe  these  are  indorsed  by  huge 
monster  meetings  that  never  were  held.  Pe- 
titions will  be  acclaimed,  petitions  which 
they  themselves  have  gotten  up  and  in  favor 
of  which  they  manufacture  fake  organiza- 
tions and  individuals.  On  the  whole,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  influence  of  the  press  in  the 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  123 

field  of  politics  tends  to  accentuate  partisan 
strife,  to  swing  elections  in  favor  of  given 
groups,  to  push  legislation  which  at  best 
has  local  rather  than  general  welfare  in 
view,  and  to  bring  the  public  mind  to  an 
attitude  of  sneering  distrust  of  all  those 
who  are  engaged  in  carrying  on  the  work 
of  government. 

Newspaper  policy  is  not  limited  in 
political  matters  to  mere  interference  with 
the  election  of  public  officers  or  the  passing 
of  laws;  it  sometimes  promotes  movements 
against  the  very  laws  themselves.  It  has 
often  been  noticed  that  a  prominent  char- 
acteristic of  the  American  is,  to  use  Kip- 
ling's words,  "the  mocking  devil  in  his 
blood  ....  that  bids  him  flout  the  law 
he  makes y  If  this  tendency  to  lawless- 
ness is  due  to  other  causes,  if  it  cannot  be 
said  that  the  American  press  creates  this 
spirit,  it  certainly  cannot  be  disputed  that 
it  tends  to  perpetuate  it.  Its  attitude  is 
too  often  revolutionary  and  irresponsible; 
it  preaches  violence  and  advocates  mob 


124         The  American  Newspaper 

rule.  It  follows  naturally  that  here  is  an 
influence  tending  to  lower  public  taste,  to 
excite  a  morbid  imagination,  to  incite  to 
rebellion,  and  to  arouse  the  brutal  impulses. 
In  the  recent  "graft"  cases  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  a  lot  of  boodlers  and  those  who 
bribed  them  were  arraigned  for  public  in- 
vestigation, it  was  almost  impossible  to  find 
jurors  who  had  not  been  prejudiced  by 
reading  the  papers.  So  far-reaching  had 
been  the  prejudiced  message  that  the  news- 
papers had  borne  to  the  citizens  of  San 
Francisco,  that  it  was  diflicult  to  find  twelve 
men  who  were  able  to  believe  they  could 
render  an  impartial  verdict.  Many  papers 
preach  a  disregard  for  the  laws  of  the 
country  and  the  institutions  of  society. 
They  sneer  and  laugh  at  them;  they  dis- 
obey and  question  them.  The  habit  of 
"muck-raking"  seems  instinctive.  One 
cannot  lay  too  much  stress  upon  the  sig- 
nificance of  this  common  characteristic  of 
the  newspapers. 

In  Europe  the  state  and  society  are  pro- 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  125 

tected  from  abuse  and  slander  by  the  office 
of  the  censor.  In  this  country  where  there 
is  freedom  of  the  press,  where  newspapers 
seem  to  say  and  do  as  they  please,  paying  no 
heed  to  the  law  or  any  moral  restraint, 
there  has  grown  up  a  loose  conception  of 
the  responsibility  of  the  press.  News- 
paper men  seem  to  consider  themselves  not 
bound  by  the  same  laws  as  other  indi- 
viduals. The  journalist  hides  behind  the 
newspapers  and  thinks  that  he  is  protected 
from  blame.  He  therefore  defies  and 
abuses  the  public  law.  Too  often  do  our 
newspapers  intimidate  jurors  and  judges. 
They  question  the  decision  of  the  courts, 
they  threaten  lawyers  if  they  dare  push  a 
case,  they  make  and  unmake  justices,  and 
all  this  goes  to  create  in  the  people  a  disre- 
spect and  lack  of  confidence  in  its  depart- 
ment of  justice.  As  soon  as  you  impeach 
this  arm  of  government,  which  more  than 
any  other  should  be  kept  free  from  politics 
and  individual  self-interest,  you  attack  the 
bed-rock  of  organized   society.     Without 


126        The  American  Newspaper 

it  you  have  anarchy.  It  is  quite  a  frequent 
occurrence  in  these  days  for  anyone  to 
pick  up  a  newspaper  and  read  columns  of 
abuse  of  our  courts  and  judges.  Often 
on  account  of  this  justice  miscarries. 
Newspapers,  and  here  I  refer  to  the  per- 
sonnel as  well  as  to  the  organization  of  any 
one  of  our  modern  papers,  feel  that  they 
can  elect  or  reject  a  judge.  They  can; 
and  therein  lies  the  danger  as  well  as  the 
evil.  In  most  of  our  cities  where  there  is  a 
movement  to  wipe  out  graft  and  to  bring 
"grafters"  to  justice,  we  find  newspapers, 
to  whose  interest  it  would  be  to  set  free  the 
criminals,  hurling  abuse  at  the  courts  that 
are  trying  to  do  their  duty  and  uphold  the 
law.  Through  the  insidious  means  at 
their  command  the  papers  destroy  the  good 
will  and  confidence  of  the  people.  Judges 
are  afraid  to  mete  out  justice  under  the 
circumstances;  they  are  threatened  with 
defeat  at  the  next  election — and  if  they 
disobey  they  are  generally  defeated.  A 
good  example  of  this  is  going  on  in  San 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  127 

Francisco  at  the  present  time  before  the 
very  eyes  of  the  pubhc  who  are  being  hood- 
winked and  used  by  the  newspapers  of 
that  city.  An  attempt  is  being  made  to 
bring  to  justice  men  who  have  wilfully 
bribed  and  others  who  have  been  bribed; 
men  who  have  misused  public  office  and 
sold  privileges  to  corrupt  corporations.  At 
first  all  the  papers  in  the  community  were 
naturally  on  the  side  of  good  government 
and  favored  the  prosecution  of  the  criminals 
who  were  a  disgrace  to  society  and  an  insult 
to  San  Francisco.  But  when  the  forces  of 
the  "higher-ups"  and  the  powers-that-be 
were  set  in  motion,  a  change  of  front  was 
noticed  among  a  few  of  the  papers  of  the 
city.  Through  jealousy,  pressure  from 
corporations,  and  through  self-interest, 
they  joined  forces  with  the  "grafters"  and 
commenced  to  abuse  the  prosecution  which 
a  few  months  before  they  had  lauded .  The 
following  letter  is  suggestive  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  influences  and  forces  which  are 
called  into  play: 


128         The  American  Newspaper 

March  13,  1908 

Mr.   E.  S.  Simpson,   Managing  Editor  ^^Call" 
San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Dear  Sir:  Contrary  to  the  avowed  assurances 
of  Willard  P.  Calkins,  the  president  of  the  Calkins 
Newspaper  Syndicate,  as  repeatedly  expressed  to 
me  by  Mr.  Calkins  himself,  I  found  that  I  was 
expected  to  antagonize  President  Roosevelt  and  to 
suppress  public  news  favorable  to  him. 

When,  in  response  to  a  request  from  Mr.  Cal- 
kins, I  expressed  my  sincere  admiration  for  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt,  my  article  was  suppressed.  I  also 
found  that  I  was  expected  to  write  covert  arguments 
in  favor  of  Schmitz,  Ruef,  Glass,  Harriman,  and 
the  San  Francisco  boodlers. 

Because  I  refused  to  do  so  and  because  I  wrote 
and  published  an  editorial  article  deprecating  the 
release  of  Schmitz  and  Ruef,  I  have  found  it 
advisable  to  throw  up  my  editorship  of  the  Calkins 
Newspaper  Syndicate's  organ  in  Fresno. 

At  the  same  time  with  my  resignation  the  Cal- 
kins Syndicate  has  been  favored  with  the  resigna- 
tions of  Mr.  CHfford  J.  Owen — and  of  half  of  the 

editorial  staff Arthur  Street,  the  editor  of 

the  Pandex  of  the  Press,  writes  me  from  Chicago 
that  he,  too,  has  thrown  up  his  editorship  and 
part  ownership  of  that  magazine,  now  under  the 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  129 

Calkins  control,  for  reasons  almost  identical  with 
mine. 

Yours  truly, 
{Signed)  Edwin  Emerson 

P.  S. — Enclosed  find  my  last  editorial  article  on 
the  Schmitz  decision.  The  views  expressed  in  this 
editorial  were  denounced  as  "the  limit"  by  the 
Calkins  Syndicate's  editorial  manager  and  led 
directly  to  my  resignation. 

Here  we  have  inside  information;  here 
we  have  the  subsidizing  of  the  press,  here 
we  have  the  control  of  the  counting-house 
over  the  editorial  staff;  here  we  have  the 
suppression  and  alteration  of  news  to  suit 
the  whims  of  one  man,  in  brief,  we  have 
here  a  typical  example,  nothing  more  or 
less,  of  the  average  sensational  newspaper 
throughout  the  country. 

In  San  Francisco  they  are  trying  to  de- 
feat justice.  They  are  using  the  same  old 
tactics;  they  attack  the  personal  records 
of  the  prosecutors  themselves,  they  unearth 
past  history,  and  make  the  most  of  the 


130        The  American  Newspaper 

little  they  can  find.  They  buy  jurors, 
they  kidnap  witnesses,  they  intimidate 
judges.  They  have  also  questioned  the 
good  faith  of  the  prosecution  and  at- 
tacked the  means  utilized  by  the  prosecu- 
tors. As  a  result  of  all  this  abuse  the 
people  have  begun  to  lose  faith  in  the  prose- 
cution and  public  interest  lags.  This  is 
the  very  thing  that  the  newspapers  aim  at. 
As  a  consequence,  these  corruptionists 
remain  free  after  months  of  trials  which 
have  cost  many  thousands  of  dollars. 
There  is  small  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  that  those  on  trial  are  guilty,  but 
through  the  clever  manipulation  of  the 
newspapers,  public  opinion  has  swung 
from  the  fighting  mood  to  one  of  indiffer- 
ence. The  newspapers  did  not  maintain 
that  the  men  standing  at  the  bar  of  justice 
were  not  guilty;  all  they  did  was  to  ques- 
tion the  records  of  the  prosecutors  and  to 
impeach  the  decisions  of  the  courts.  In 
the  present  election  these  newspapers  are 
making  strenuous  efforts  to  defeat  those 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  131 

judges  who  in  their  eyes  have  favored  the 
prosecution.  It  is  a  deep-laid  scheme  to 
defeat  the  movement  for  good  government. 
It  should  be  said  also  that  the  papers  on 
the  other  side,  those  that  favor  the  prose- 
cution, have  used  the  same  methods  as 
those  lined  up  with  the  "  grafters."  Today 
their  columns  are  full  of  abuse  of  those 
courts  and  judges  that  have  not  favored 
their  side  of  the  case.  How,  under  such  a 
perverted  notion  of  the  way  to  attain 
justice,  can  we  in  this  country  expect  to  get 
just  verdicts  ?  How  can  we  expect  justice 
at  all,  when  the  press  which  controls  public 
opinion  changes  at  will,  when  it  defies 
censorship,  and  when  it  asks  for  complete 
freedom  from  the  law?  It  has  no  more 
right  to  ask  this  than  any  other  corporation. 
All  others  are  held  responsible  for  their 
acts.  This  statement  may  seem  to  the 
reader  to  exclude  too  completely  any  con- 
sideration of  the  libel  laws.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  as  we  know,  libel  laws  are  on  the 
whole  inoperative.     They  are  seldom  put 


132         The  American  Newspaper 

into  operation.  An  individual  fears  the 
abuse  of  the  newspaper.  There  are  very 
few  men  in  this  country  who  would  dare 
sue  a  newspaper  for  libel.  Each  one 
knows  well  that  the  newspaper  would  pour 
forth  more  abuse  and  would  seek  to 
pervert  every  detail  of  his  life,  public  and 
private.  The  public  fails  to  realize  that  a 
paper  that  steals  a  man's  good  name  de- 
serves a  heavier  punishment  than  the  man 
who  steals  his  property.  Few  of  us  ever 
reflect  upon  these  simple  things. 

One  of  the  most  culpable  features  of 
American  journalism  lies  in  its  appeal  to 
the  unreasoning  and  primitive  emotions  in 
man.  There  is  need  of  some  check  to 
protect  society  either  through  censorship 
or  some  other  system  by  which  newspapers 
should  be  held  responsible  to  the  law  for 
what  they  do  and  say.  In  the  year  1856, 
Andrews  in  his  History  of  British  Journal- 
ism wrote  in  this  prophetic  vein : 

This  is  the  only  danger  that  we  can  foresee  in 
the  cheapening  of  the  press— that,  appeaHng  to  a 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  133 

class  whose  passions  are  less  tutored  and  re- 
strained, it  can  gather  a  mob,  and  raise  a  cry  of 
"Rescue,"  if  the  law  lays  its  hand  upon  some 
assassin  whom  it  should  scorn  to  shelter  with  its 
privileges. 

Like  many  prophetic  remarks  of  its  kind, 
this  is  only  half  true.  And  yet  when  one 
stops  to  reflect  that  our  morning  papers  are 
devoting  five-eighths  of  their  first  pages  to 
hideous  accounts  of  crime  and  other  social 
atrocities  and  that  the  evening  papers  warm 
over  these  same  revolting  dishes,  then  one 
is  forced  to  realize  the  danger  of  the  situa- 
tion. To  illustrate  this  let  us  take  a  note- 
worthy example. 

A  murder  was  committed  by  a  jealous 
husband,  one  Ismond,  a  barber,  who 
claimed  that  on  going  home  in  the  evening 
he  found  his  wife  and  his  victim,  whose 
name  was  McLeod,  sitting  on  the  same  sofa 
in  a  compromising  position.  The  follow- 
ing extracts  from  the  account  given  by  the 
papers  are  fairly  typical  of  the  point  of  view 
from  which  the  public  is  led  to  regard  such 


134        The  American  Newspaper 

tragedies:  "Ismond  is  given  a  good  char- 
acter by  the  neighbors  and  by  his  fellow- 
workers.     The  neighbors  seem  to  justify 

him 'The  only  mistake  that  he  made 

was  in  not  killing  both  of  them,'  said  a  gray- 
haired  woman  across  the  road,  'if  what  he 
suspected  was  true.'  "  The  public  author- 
ities expressed  similar  views.  The  influ- 
ence of  such  an  article  is  surely  harmful, 
since  it  tells  the  public,  old  and  young,  that 
a  husband  is  justified  in  taking  the  law  in 
his  hands  and  killing  when  for  any  reason 
he  feels  that  he  has  been  wronged.  It 
further  tells  them  that  the  proper  thing  to 
do  is  to  murder  first  and  then  find  out  if  his 
suspicions  are  correct.  Another  typical 
example  of  the  way  newspapers  incite  to 
unjustifiable  murder  is  their  tolerant  and 
even  laudatory  attitude  toward  lynching. 
Southern  journals  in  particular  uphold 
violence  and  incendiarism  and  have  prob- 
ably been  the  mainstay  of  much  of  the 
recent  rioting  in  the  South.  When  it  has 
printed   opinion  to  back  it,   a  crowd  is 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  135 

quickly  and  easily  persuaded  to  take  the 
law  in  its  hands  and  to  administer  punish- 
ment in  a  spirit  which  says,  "The  law  of 
the  country  is  either  not  sound  or  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  is  not  what  it  ought 
to  be.  We,  the  people,  may  make  or 
break  the  law  at  will.  We  are  the  law." 
Another  function  of  the  sensational 
paper  which  brings  it  close  to  the  courts  is 
its  self-imposed  responsibility  as  detective. 
It  poses  as  protector  of  society;  it  assumes 
the  task  of  ferreting  out  evil  and  exposing 
it  to  the  public.  Besides  this  function,  it 
undertakes  to  obtain  injunctions,  to  issue 
complaints,  to  file  suits,  and  under  ''dum- 
my" plaintiffs  to  make  charges.  If  the 
decision  is  rendered  in  its  favor,  it  conveys 
the  idea  to  the  public  that  justice  has  been 
done  and  the  law  upheld,  but  if  the  verdict 
is  against  it,  then  it  threatens  the  court  and 
tells  the  people  that  justice  has  been  per- 
verted and  that  the  judge  is  unfit  to  sit  on 
the  bench.  A  business  man  once,  in  dis- 
cussing an  injunction  granted  in  one  of 


136         The  American  Newspaper 

these  newspaper  suits  arising  out  of  a  water 
scandal,  remarked,  "Why,  of  course  the 
judge  granted  the  injunction.  Everybody 
knew  he  would.  There  is  not  a  judge  on 
the  bench  who  would  have  the  nerve  to 
decide  the  other  way  with  all  the  row  the 
newspapers  have  made  about  it.  He 
simply  knows  on  which  side  his  bread  is 
buttered."  This  aptly  expresses  the  situa- 
tion. It  is  certainly  true  that  out  of  spite 
newspapers  have  sent  many  an  innocent 
man  to  jail.  If  they  take  a  dislike  to  one 
who  is  charged  with  a  crime  they  will  print 
all  sorts  of  revolting  pictures  of  the  criminal 
that  do  not  bear  the  slightest  resemblance 
to  the  original.  They  will  alter  the  news 
and  give  the  public  an  utterly  wrong  im- 
pression of  the  man  and  his  case.  Sensa- 
tional headlines  are  used  to  convince  the 
public  and  the  jury.  A  man  is  ofttimes  a 
grafter  before  he  has  been  convicted ;  they 
take  it  for  granted.  A  man  is  shown  to  be 
guilty  before  he  is  proven  to  be  such,  and  in 
this  regard  our  newspapers  seem  to  believe 


Influence  0}  the  American  Newspaper  137 

in  the  French  system,  which  says  a  man  is 
guihy  until  proven  innocent.  Cases  are 
numerous  where  newspaper  articles  have 
influenced  a  jury.  The  courts  of  Massa- 
chusetts have  awakened  to  this  fact  and 
have  imposed  heavy  penalties  upon  any 
newspaper  which  attempts  intentionally  to 
prejudice  a  jury  while  a  case  is  being  tried. 
The  English  courts  are  more  vigorous  and 
severe.  They  lay  down  the  rule  that  a 
person  accused  of  a  crime  can  only  properly 
be  convicted  on  the  evidence  which  is 
legally  admitted  and  not  upon  the  hearsay 
and  gossip  of  the  newspaper  and  the  public. 
But  all  improper  influences  upon  legis- 
lators or  judges  exercised  by  newspapers 
are  as  naught  in  comparison  with  their  sys- 
tematic and  constant  effort  to  instil  into  the 
minds  of  the  ignorant  and  the  poor,  who 
constitute  the  mass  of  readers,  that  justice 
is  not  blind  but  bought ;  that  the  great  cor- 
porations own  the  judges,  particularly  the 
federal  judges.  Abuse  of  individuals  is 
nothing  as  compared  to  this  constant  at- 


138        The  American  Newspaper 

tempt  by  papers  to  convince  the  people 
that  our  institutions  are  rotten  to  the  core 
and  that  the  wealthy  are  the  privileged 
class.  Much  harm  is  done  to  the  bulk  of 
the  American  people  in  thus  creating  false 
and  vicious  impressions.  They  come  to 
think  that  the  newspapers  are  giving  a 
true  picture  of  the  state  of  affairs  and  that 
every  man  has  his  price.  They  conclude 
that  the  poor  man  has  little  chance  for 
justice ;  and  so  class  feeling  is  aroused  and 
the  masses  look  with  hatred  upon  those 
who  are  rich. 

Cartoons  are  used  effectively  to  fix  these 
prejudices.  They  exert  a  subtler  and 
stronger  influence  than  mere  comment. 
They  are  more  effective  than  an  editorial 
or  campaign  speech.  Behind  the  humor 
of  the  picture  there  is  a  deeper  meaning, 
and  so  in  the  laugh  that  follows  there  is  left 
a  bitter  impression  upon  the  mind  of  the 
reader.  The  cartoon  has  caught  his  eye 
and  engrossed  his  attention.  It  has  made 
him  think.     Take,  for  example,  the  car- 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  139 

toons  of  the  big  Carthaginian  labeled, 
"The  Trusts,"  holding  a  squirming  federal 
judge  in  his  huge  fist,  which  are  likely  to 
appear  whenever  an  injunction  is  granted. 
It  cannot  be  estimated  how  much  influence 
these  have  had  upon  the  working  classes, 
but  this  much  is  known,  that  they  have 
engendered  bitter  antagonism  between 
labor  and  capital.  These  cartoons  have 
helped  to  make  that  great  problem  of 
"labor  and  capital"  which  now  distracts 
the  nation.  Another  cartoon,  that  of 
Justice  holding  her  scales  with  a  working- 
man  unevenly  balanced  by  an  immense  bag 
of  gold,  has  done  much  harm  with  every 
laugh  it  caused.  That  picture  of  a  hideous 
monster  of  a  man  dressed  in  clothes  with 
dollar  marks,  with  a  judge  protruding  from 
his  pocket  and  a  workingman  under  his 
foot,  is  but  another  example  of  cartoons 
that  encourage  a  disregard  for  the  law  and 
stimulate  bitter  class  antagonism.  If  the 
readers  believe  such  cartoons,  and  many 
do,  nothing  but  pessimism  and  strife  can  be 


I40         The  American  Newspaper 

expected  in  the  future.  The  stability  and 
integrity  of  the  nation  rest  upon  the  courage 
and  hopefulness  of  its  citizens,  and  any- 
thing which  undermines  these  traits  is  an 
attack  upon  its  security  and  honor. 

Before  leaving  this  aspect  of  the  influence 
of  the  American  press  upon  the  political 
opinions  of  the  general  reader,  it  is  but  fair 
to  note  that  there  is  much  that  the  news- 
paper has  done  which  is  constructive  rather 
than  destructive.  The  press  has  undoubt- 
edly done  good  work  in  spreading  the 
theories  and  practices  of  municipal  reform, 
in  promoting  the  fight  for  municipal  owner- 
ship, for  pure  food,  for  clean  streets, 
and  all  other  forms  of  good  municipal 
hous:keeping;  it  has  sometimes  led  cam- 
paigns for  the  purity  of  the  ballot  against 
the  united  forces  of  the  "machine ;"  it  has 
itself  many  times  initiated  the  prosecution 
of  bribery,  of  land  steals,  insurance  frauds, 
and  the  like.  It  is  the  press  which  has 
exerted  itself  in  behalf  of  better  poor  laws, 
adv^ocated    good    tenement    laws,    child- 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  141 

labor  laws,  and  general  protection  of 
labor's  interests.  Both  by  the  wide  reach 
of  their  appeal  and  their  own  generous 
gifts  newspapers  have  raised  money  for 
those  whom  earthquake,  flood,  or  fire  have 
made  desolate.  When  Chicago,  Baltimore, 
Galveston,  San  Francisco,  and  many  other 
smaller  cities  suffered  disaster  from  quake, 
flood,  or  fire,  it  was  the  newspapers  that 
issued  the  first  calls  for  aid  and  they  them- 
selves added  to  the  large  sums  sent  from 
all  over  the  world  to  the  needy.  They 
have  also  started  benefits  for  widows  and 
orphans,  sent  children  of  the  slums  to  the 
country,  and  given  deserving  students  and 
teachers  coveted  trips  to  Europe.  Whether 
because  it  adds  to  their  reputation  or  be- 
cause they  are  actuated  by  less  selfish 
motives,  newspapers  are  often  found  favor- 
ing good  legislation  and  supporting  com- 
petent men.  Despite  the  frequent  changes 
of  front  of  the  yellow  journal,  despite  the 
fact  that  whenever  its  policy  is  attacked, 
whenever  the  interests  of  the  owners  of  the 


142         The  American  Newspaper 

paper  are  in  question,  the  average  news- 
paper will  forsake  the  public  weal  for  its 
own  selfish  benefit  and  power,  the  news- 
papers do  frequently  voice  sound  opinions 
regarding  public  law  and  order  and  the 
administration  of  justice. 

Take  again  the  press's  attitude  toward 
economic  questions.  Within  the  last  de- 
cade these  questions  have  come  to  receive 
as  much  attention  from  the  newspapers  as 
politics. 

Most  newspapers  publish  daily  accounts 
of  the  money  and  labor  markets.  Their 
influence  in  this  regard  must  not  be  too 
lightly  judged.  Too  much  stress  cannot 
be  laid  upon  the  influence  of  the  papets  on 
industrial  problems,  for  the  citizen's  opin- 
ion as  to  whether  a  strike  or  boycott  is 
justifiable  or  not  depends  largely  upon 
what  he  reads  in  the  newspapers  about 
the  dispute.  The  average  man's  knowl- 
edge of  the  trusts,  the  money  markets,  the 
economic  movements  and  policies  of  differ- 
ent states  can  only  be  formed  by  what  the 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  143 

newspapers  give  in  the  way  of  reliable  facts. 
Besides  influencing  man's  economic  opin- 
ions, they  affect  his  economic  conditions 
by  helping  to  decide  strikes,  by  attacking 
trusts,  by  bringing  on  panics,  by  causing 
fluctuations  in  the  money  markets.  Busi- 
ness men  say  that  newspapers  can  hinder 
or  cause  a  slump  in  the  stock  and  produce 
markets.  The  ideas  of  the  average  man 
about  the  purposes  and  actions  of  labor 
unions  and  employers'  associations  have 
scarcely  any  other  base  than  that  which  can 
be  got  from  the  papers.  The  mass  of 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  problems  that  need 
adjustment  between  labor  and  capital 
swings  with  that  of  the  newspapers.  Like 
the  knowledge  of  all  the  facts  of  trade 
manipulation,  of  fluctuations  of  stocks, 
and  of  the  prices  of  wholesale  and  retail 
commodities,  the  details  and  progress  of 
mechanical  production  come  to  most  people 
through  the  advertisement  or  other  columns 
of  a  paper. 
Among  its  various  tasks,  the  American 


144         The  American  Newspaper 

newspaper  may  be  said  to  have  set  itself 
the  duty  of  contributing  to  the  culture  of 
its  readers.  The  word  culture  is  here 
used  in  a  broad  sense  to  include  all  sorts  of 
education  and  training. 

Education  is  a  moralizing  influence;  an 
ignorant  man  is  generally  brutish  and 
vulgar;  the  educated  man  is  usually  kind 
and  cultured.  Through  knowledge  one 
comes  to  know  the  true,  the  good,  and 
beautiful.  Through  knowledge  come  mor- 
als. Morals  are  the  code  of  an  educated 
man  who  can  exercise  self-control  and 
fortitude  in  relation  to  his  fellow-man. 
The  salvation  and  hope  of  the  nation  there- 
fore lies  in  the  education  of  its  people. 
Hence,  anything  which  tends  in  any  way 
to  affect  the  education  of  the  masses  thereby 
affects  the  morals  of  the  community.  The 
kind  of  education  is  the  important  factor 
in  the  shaping  of  efficient  democracy;  the 
American  newspaper  tends  to  give  a  kind 
where  good  and  bad  are  mingled  but 
where  the  bad  is  the  more  accessible  and 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  145 

attractive.  The  modern  American  news- 
paper is  our  national  educator  of  the  plain 
people,  young  and  old. 

As  has  already  been  shown  in  another 
connection  a  goodly  part  of  the  daily 
columns  of  papers  furnishes  news  and 
information  about  artists  and  art,  about 
writers  and  literature,  explorers  and  explo- 
rations, travelers  and  travels.  The  ideas 
of  the  average  American  reader  concerning 
painting,  books,  and  music  are  largely 
based  on  what  he  reads  through  this  chan- 
nel. The  brilliant  and  intelligent  "write- 
ups"  of  the  dramatic  critic,  when  believed, 
determine  the  theatergoer's  impressions 
whether  new  plays  are  good  or  not.  A 
page  is  given  to  a  review  of  the  latest  books, 
and  photographs  of  famous  pictures  often 
appear.  Special  articles  are  eagerly  so- 
licited from  well-known  authors  or  explorers 
and  the  highest  market  prices  are  paid  for 
them.  An  explorer  of  international  fame 
recently  received  eight  hundred  dollars  for 
a  thousand-word  article.     Two   thousand 


146        The  American  Newspaper 

a  year  was  offered  a  prominent  divine  for  a 
monthly  sermonette  of  five  hundred  words ; 
while  a  renowned  author  was  paid  as  high 
as  a  dollar  a  word  for  every  thousand-word 
story  that  he  would  care  to  write.  At  the 
present  time  in  the  San  Francisco  Call 
there  is  an  international  literary  contest 
going  on  between  two  well-known  authors. 
One  is  an  American  author,  Miss  Wilkins- 
Freeman,  and  the  other  an  Englishman, 
Mr.  Max  Pemberton.  The  merits  of  these 
two  authors  are  to  be  judged  and  voted 
upon  by  the  reading  public. 

Prizes  are  offered  for  correct  answers  to 
puzzles,  for  the  best  letter  on  some  subject, 
for  the  wittiest  joke,  for  the  cleverest  way 
to  meet  an  emergency,  and  the  like.  The 
women  are  told  what  the  latest  fashions 
are.  The  housekeepers  are  schooled  in  the 
art  of  cooking.  Physical  exercises  are 
discussed,  illustrated,  and  explained.  Big 
prices  are  paid  to  specialists  for  articles  on 
such  subjects  as  food,  shelter,  and  clothing, 
the  care  of  children,  and  so  forth.    Much 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  147 

useful  medical  information  is  given.  Per- 
sonal hygiene  is  taught.  The  aim  would 
seem  to  be  to  tell  the  people  everything  that 
will  make  their  life  more  healthy,  comfort- 
able, and  intelligent.  Letters  of  inquiry 
are  solicited  and  promptly  answered. 
Courses  in  science  and  technical  subjects 
for  the  general  reader  are  offered  by  uni- 
versity professors.  When  necessary,  money 
as  well  as  time  is  lavishly  expended  to  ac- 
quire the  information  that  is  thought  de- 
sirable. From  June  to  September  a  num- 
ber of  information  bureaus  are  kept  open  to 
report  without  charge  on  summer  trips, 
hotels,  resorts,  etc.  Printed  almanacs 
which  take  the  form  of  condensed  yearly 
encyclopedias  are  distributed  by  the  paper 
free. 

Another  encouraging  sign  of  modern 
American  journalism  is  shown  in  the 
"Home-Study  Circle"  conducted  by  spe- 
cialists, professors,  and  experts,  which 
aims  to  serve  as  a  source  of  information  for 
the  average  reader.     The  courses  offered 


148         The  American  Newspaper 

cover  the  fields  of  literature,  science,  and 
art.  Equally  instructive  and  practical  is 
the  Household  Department  which  furnishes 
menus,  dress  patterns,  and  the  like,  and  the 
Question  Bureau  which  answers  all  ques- 
tions through  experts  employed  for  this  task. 
Thus  we  find  that  the  modern  up-to-date 
American  journal  aims  to  be  the  national 
storehouse  of  useful  and  scientific  learning. 
In  spite  of  its  money  seeking  and  its  thirst 
for  readers,  it  recognizes,  however  dimly, 
that  through  its  columns  it  can  perform 
an  invaluable  service,  since  progress  is 
ultimately  based  on  the  intelligence  of  men 
and  democracy  depends  upon  the  educa- 
tion of  the  majority. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  educational  possi- 
bilities of  the  newspaper  are  immense; 
but  that  it  does  not  always  educate  in  the 
highest  sense  is  apparent  to  all.  So  long 
as  the  newspapers  continue  to  print  the 
great  mass  of  trivial  stuff  which  now  fills 
their  columns,  they  will  be  a  failure  as  an 
instrument  of  education  and  at  best  will 


\ 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  149 

offer  for  the  intellectual  life  of  their  readers 
only  commonplaces  or  ill-proven  facts. 
In  brief,  if  we  sum  up  the  total  results  of 
newspaper  endeavor  along  educational  and 
cultural  lines,  the  real  gain  is  small.  Mr. 
Leslie  Stephen  says,  "The  world  is  better, 
no  doubt,  even  for  an  honest  crossing- 
sweeper.  But  I  often  think  that  the  value 
of  second-rate  literature  is  not  small  but 
simply  zero,"  and  if  this  is  true,  the  average 
literary  work  of  the  American  newspaper, 
falling  short  as  it  does  of  any  high  standard, 
is  almost  nil.  The  press  itself  avows  its 
own  limitations.  On  this  point  a  reporter 
uniquely  defended  and  explained  "yellow" 
journalism  with  the  remark,  "We  don't 
think  that  our  paper  is  'nice,'  but  we  do 
know  it  reaches  the  people.  It  is  our  inten- 
tion to  teach  the  people,  and  the  first  step 
is  to  get  them  to  listen  to  us.  We  believe 
that  it  is  better  to  raise  a  whole  city  one 
inch  than  to  hoist  a  few  men  and  women 
ten  feet  in  the  air."  Thus  the  sensational 
journal    working   on    the    theory   of    the 


150        The  American  Newspaper 

'Mivine  average"  sophistically  teaches  and 
preaches  mediocrity  or  worse. 

The  two  principal  educational  forces  in 
this  country  are  the  public  schools  and  the 
newspapers.  With  the  young,  the  public 
schools  deal  more  or  less  successfully.  But 
among  the  mature  we  have  great  masses  of 
people,  who  are  as  densely  ignorant  as  they 
are  poorly  housed.  Some  did  not  go  to 
school  when  they  were  young,  some  lived 
in  districts  where  there  were  no  schools, 
and  others  are  illiterate  immigrants  from 
countries  where  the  education  of  the  poor 
is  entirely  neglected.  Let  us  glance  at  a 
few  general  figures.  Over  2,250,000  males 
of  voting  age  are  classified  in  the  census  for 
1900  as  illiterates.  There  are  1,500,000 
over  ten  years  of  age  who  are  unable  to 
speak  English.  There  are  living  in  our 
midst  over  five  million  male  voters  of 
foreign  birth.  We  have  a  foreign  popu- 
lation of  over  12,000,000,  a  heterogeneous 
mass  that  has  not  been  assimilated.  To  a 
much  greater  extent  than  the  school,  the 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  151 

newspaper  is  the  agent  of  assimilation;  it 
is  the  press  that  makes  Americans  out  of 
this  vast  army  of  foreign  immigrants. 
Besides  this  large  number  of  foreign, 
we  have  native,  population  of  considerable 
size  at  "a  low  level  of  intelligence."  It  is 
apparent  then  that  the  principal  problem 
confronting  us  in  our  struggle  to  develop 
an  effective  democracy  is  the  education, 
assimilation,  and  uplifting  of  this  great 
mass  of  people.  We  can  enlighten  the 
children  by  means  of  compulsory  school 
acts  but  we  cannot  force  knowledge  upon 
adult  men  and  women.  Many  theories 
have  been  advanced  as  to  the  best  method 
of  meeting  this  difficult  situation,  but  none 
are  satisfactory.  The  Settlement  fails. 
The  one  institution  however  that  is  coping 
with  this  problem  and  getting  practical 
results,  even  though  those  results  are  not 
always  what  they  should  be,  is  the  press, 
especially  the  "yellow  journal."  It  is 
giving  to  the  foreign  portions  of  our  popu- 
lation American  standards,  ideas,  and  the 


152         The  American  Newspaper 

general  feeling  of  the  community.  In 
brief,  it  reflects  the  opinion  of  the  average 
American.  Thus  we  have  the  American 
newspaper  not  only  as  the  giant  molder 
of  public  opinion  but  the  monster  mechanic 
that  shapes  and  reshapes  the  mental  make- 
up of  the  plain  people.  It  is  the  educator 
of  the  plain  people,  especially  of  that  great 
section  of  the  population  which  in  countries 
other  than  America  does  not  read  at  all. 

Another  important  question  connected 
with  the  influence  of  the  press  is  its  effect 
upon  the  mind  and  intelligence  of  the 
young.  The  growing  youth  is  too  imma- 
ture to  form  a  judgment  or  to  discriminate 
in  his  reading;  he  accepts  what  he  reads. 
His  susceptible  mind  is  not  only,  as  some- 
one has  aptly  put  it,  a  "package  of  in- 
stincts," but  it  has  a  remarkable  aptitude 
for  absorbing  everything  it  runs  across. 
Imagination  and  not  reason  as  a  rule  play 
the  largest  part  in  his  daily  life.  When  we 
realize  how  easily  he  is  aroused,  persuaded, 
and  taught  by  everything  and  everybody 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  153 

about  him,  the  tremendous  influence  that  a 
newspaper  may  have  upon  him  becomes 
apparent.  He  is  enticed  by  its  colored 
pictures;  he  is  dehghted  by  its  cartoons, 
and  he  reads  all  the  accounts  of  crimes  with 
great  glee.  Inexperienced  and  irrespon- 
sible youth  knows  little  of  the  real  world ;  it 
lives  in  a  world  of  its  own  creation,  a  world 
formulated  in  terms  of  what  is  read,  seen, 
or  heard.  For  only  too  many  young  people 
the  world  is  mirrored  by  the  daily  news- 
paper. And  what  do  they  see  there? 
Nothing  but  an  exaggerated  world.  They 
find  in  the  dailies  detailed  accounts  of 
murders,  suicides,  prize  fights,  and  horse- 
races. As  a  consequence,  in  their  imagi- 
iiations  this  world  becomes  a  place  where 
such  things  are  usual.  Photographs  of 
crime  and  of  sporting  events  intensify  this 
point  of  view.  A  child  brought  up  in 
healthy  surroundings  and  given  the  best 
literature  to  read  generally  turns  out  good, 
sane,  and  normal,  but  a  boy  who  reads  dime 
novels  and  sees  the  world  of  his  imagina- 


154        The  American  Newspaper 

tion  peopled  with  Indians  and  cowboys,  out- 
laws and  detectives,  often  goes  to  the  bad. 
That  is  the  natural  outcome.  If  it  be  true 
of  man  that  he  is  the  creature  of  his  environ- 
ment, yet  more  emphatically  is  it  true  of  the 
growing  boy  that  he  is  the  creature  of  the 
many  social  forces  that  play  about  him. 
If  the  world  of  his  imagination  is  degen- 
erate and  vulgar,  he  will  become  degen- 
erate and  vulgar.  If  the  child  reads  news- 
papers which  furnish  a  vast  amount  of  this 
lurid  stuff,  his  field  of  vision  becomes 
shockingly  limited  and  his  imagination 
feeds  upon  the  pathological  side  of  human 
nature.  Think  of  youth  reading  the  de- 
tailed accounts  of  the  Durant  and  Thaw 
cases.  Or,  to  take  another  side  of  the 
material,  think  of  the  vapid  nonsense  with 
which  a  young  person's  head  is  filled  when 
he  reads  accounts  of  the  social  "doings"  of 
"gilded"  society  and  of  the  latest  events  of 
the  sporting  world.  Such  matter  would 
spoil  the  best  bred  child.  It  undermines 
future  generations. 


Influence  oj  the  American  Newspaper  155 

It  is  not  the  adult  but  also  the  young 
person,  and  perhaps  the  latter  chiefly,  who 
turns  daily  to  digest  the  silly  notes  on 
society,  to  follow  t^e  immoral  antics  of 
degenerate  noblemen  and  the  vulgar  new 
rich.  This  sort  of  thing  has  turned  the 
head  of  many  an  innocent  youth.  As  is 
well  known  among  educated  people,  social 
circles  are  as  distinctly  drawn  on  the  basis 
of  birth,  education,  or  money  in  this  coun- 
try as  in  other  countries,  but  in  spite  of 
such  well-defined  sets  in  New  England,  the 
middle  states,  and  the  South,  the  press  leads 
the  public  imagination  to  picture  all  social 
leaders  as  belonging  to  the  "400,"  and 
these  "leaders,"  in  the  fancy  of  the  people, 
invariably  possess  millions  and  are  sur- 
rounded by  persons  who  meet  solely  for 
the  display  of  superlatively  costly  flowers, 
rich  gowns,  and  golden  dinner  services, 
and  whose  only  aim  in  life  is  to  find  some 
new  means  of  stimulating  their  jaded 
interests.  What  can  all  this  do  but  form 
in  the  young  as  in  the  old  a  desire  for  the 


156         The  American  Newspaper 

frivolous,  for  the  vulgar,  and  for  the  non- 
essential ?  Add  to  this  the  training  which 
the  omnipresent  sensational  newspaper 
gives  in  the  habit  of  desultory,  haphazard 
reading,  and  then  consider  how  far  the 
press  of  today  may  be  expected  to  aid  the 
young  reader  in  forming  habits  of  mental 
sobriety  and  self-control.  Is  it  not  on  the 
contrary  helping  him  to  acquire  the  habit  of 
wasting  valuable  time  and  energy  on  un- 
wholesome trash  ?  Is  it  not  safe  to  believe 
that  much  of  that  lack  of  mental  discipline, 
of  self-directed  thought,  and  capacity  to 
concentrate  one's  mind,  which  character- 
izes too  many  Americans,  is  due  to  an  early 
habit  of  indiscriminate  newspaper  reading  ? 
A  good  deal  also  might  be  said  about  the 
influence  of  the  pictures  of  the  "comic 
supplement."  It  is  not  ultra  critical  to  say 
that  a  sense  of  humor  developed  on  such 
cheap  "funny"  pictures  as  most  of  these 
are  will  never  travel  as  far  in  the  enjoyment 
of  true  nonsense  as  the  child  who  learned 
to  laugh  by  way  of  Alice  in  Wonderland 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  157 

or  Lear's  Nonsense  Book  or  Burgess' 
Goops.  When  a  young  mind  is  nursed 
with  trash,  stunted  with  the  trivial,  and 
poisoned  with  the  untrue,  its  possessor  will 
not  become  that  intelligent  and  independ- 
ent citizen  on  which  sound  democracy 
depends.  That  it  is  the  frothy  character- 
istics of  a  paper  which  chiefly  attract  and 
hold  the  interest  of  the  young,  while  what 
is  solid  and  worthy  is  apt  to  escape  notice, 
is  one  of  the  serious  elements  in  this  whole 
question  of  the  influence  of  the  newspaper. 
To  read  the  newspaper  properly  one  must 
be  able  to  discriminate  between  what  is 
false  and  what  is  true,  what  is  important 
and  what  is  trivial.  The  young  child 
cannot  do  this. 

In  the  December  (1908)  number  of 
Current  Literature,  the  following  para- 
graphs appeared  under  an  article  en- 
titled "Sounding  the  Doom  of  the 
'Comics.'  " 

It  begins  to  look  as  if  the  death  knell  of  a  time- 
honored    feature    of    American    journalism — the 


158        The  American  Newspaper 

comic  supplements  of  the  Sunday  newspapers — 
had  struck.  A  tide  of  protest  is  rising  all  over  the 
land,  and  the  very  existence  of  "Foxy  Grandpa," 
the  " Katzenjammer  Kids,"  "Happy  Hooligan," 
and  "Buster  Brown" — those  darlings  of  the 
heart  of  childhood — is  menaced.  Mothers'  meet- 
ings have  declaimed  and  educational  conferences 
have  resolved  against  them.  One  lady  speaker  be- 
fore the  recent  American  Playgrounds  Congress  in 
New  York  registered  her  conviction  that  the  comic 
supplement  is  "debasing  the  morals  of  the  chil- 
dren," by  emphasizing  and  apparently  condoning 
"deceit,  cunning,  and  disrespect  for  gray  hairs." 
And  now  a  leading  New  England  newspaper  an- 
nounces its  abandonment  of  this  feature.  "The 
comic  supplement,"  it  says,  "has  had  its  day.  We 
discard  it  as  we  would  throw  aside  any  mechanism 
that  had  reached  the  end  of  its  usefulness,  or  any 
'feature'  that  had  ceased  to  fulfil  the  purpose  of 
attraction." 

In  speaking  of  the  "comic  supplements" 
the  writer  on  the  Herald  maintains  that 
"the  comic  supplements  have  ceased  to  be 
comic!  They  have  become  as  vulgar  in 
design  as  they  are  tawdry  in  color.  There 
is  no  longer  any  semblance  of  art  in  them, 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  159 

and  if  there  are  any  ideals  they  are  low  and 
descending  lower." 

Summed  up,  then,  the  injurious  effects 
of  the  newspaper  habit  are :  first,  waste  of 
much  time  and  energy  in  reading  unim- 
portant news,  premature,  untrue,  and  im- 
perfect accounts  of  important  matters  and 
prejudiced  editorials  of  uninteresting  sub- 
jects. Secondly,  class  prejudices  are  kin- 
dled because  of  the  partisan  bias  or  com- 
mercial greed  of  newspaper  managers.  In 
the  third  place,  the  mind  is  loaded  with 
cheap  literature  and  prone  to  an  aversion 
for  good  books  and  sustained  thought.  The 
daily  newspaper  reduces  the  intellectual 
life  of  its  readers  to  a  continuous  round  of 
petty  excitements.  In  the  fourth  place, 
by  flouting  the  law  and  its  officers  it  breeds 
a  certain  feeling  of  lawlessness.  These  are 
the  various  forms  of  its  influence  upon  the 
general  reader,  upon  the  uneducated,  more- 
over, and  upon  the  young  we  have  found 
that  the  influence  of  the  press  is  full  of 
danger. 


i6o        The  American  Newspaper 

Still  another  aspect  of  the  question 
may  be  mentioned,  namely  the  influence 
which  papers  have  upon  their  own  em- 
ployees. Journalism  involves  enormous 
mental  and  physical  strain.  It  uses  up  men 
in  its  frenzied  search  for  news.  Many  have 
become  complete  physical  wrecks,  their 
best  energies  having  been  dissipated  after 
a  few  years  of  service.  The  profession  of 
journalism,  if  one  may  so  call  it,  is  not  only 
injurious  to  the  public  but  reacts  unfavor- 
ably upon  those  who  create  it.  Mr.  JuHan 
Ralph  says,  "But  it  journalism  tends  to 
form  the  habits  of  stealing,  to  make  men 
careless  of  the  future;  and  it  demands 
high-pressure  service  to  the  bitter  end,  even 
when  one's  energies  have  to  be  worked  up 
with  a  forced  draught."  In  no  field  of 
effort  do  men  labor  under  higher  pressure 
and  un(|er  greater  sacrifices  than  do  most  of 
the  newspaper  men  of  this  country.  The 
making  of  a  metropolitan  daily  is  fierce, 
bitter,  and  exhausting  work.  This  rush 
and  tear  is  characteristic  of  the  times.     It 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  i6i 

is  the  very  nature  of  the  " beast"  American. 
Park  Row,  Hke  its  prototype  in  finance, 
Wall  Street,  is  always  seething  and  bub- 
bling. This  habit  of  rush  is  to  be  con- 
demned. It  engenders  a  similar  tendency 
in  the  readers.  The  modern  metropolitan 
paper  is  not  only  produced  at  a  great  cost 
in  money  but  also  at  a  great  sacrifice  in  life 
and  nerve.  Such  things  cannot  be  reck- 
oned in  dollars  and  cents,  but  its  marks 
are  nevertheless  registered  upon  the  body- 
politic.  The  word  Rush  is  written  all  over 
the  average  paper. 

Lest  it  be  thought  that  too  much  stress 
has  been  laid  upon  harmful  influences  of 
the  newspaper,  it  seems  well  to  summarize 
in  a  brief  paragraph  those  among  its  influ- 
ences which  seem  beneficial.  It  has  al- 
ready been  suggested  that  even  though  the 
material  offered  for  reading  is  questionable, 
the  newspaper  at  least  cultivates  the  habit 
of  reading,  and  that  along  with  much  that 
is  superficial  and  uncertain  it  disseminates 
some  useful  knowledge.    Add  to  this,  that 


1 62         The  American  Newspaper 

it  does  enthusiastically  aid  in  many  a  cam- 
paign for  the  realization  of  the  best  prin- 
ciples of  social  service  and  civic  decency. 
One  other  point  may  be  enlarged  upon 
here.  In  spite  of  much  jingoism  and  petty 
provincialism,  the  newspaper  acts  as  a 
medium  for  developing  broader  notions  of 
international  relations.  What  travel  and 
art  has  done  for  the  few,  the  newspapers  do 
for  the  many.  To  be  interested  in  politics 
and  the  affairs  of  the  world,  to  follow  the 
intellectual  and  moral  advancement  of  one's 
country  and  of  others  is  to  enlarge  one's 
nature,  and  our  newspapers,  in  so  far  as 
they  describe  faithfully  the  happenings  and 
the  character  of  the  nations  of  the  world, 
tend  to  encourage  the  broader  cosmopolitan 
spirit.  He  who  becomes  tolerant  and  hu- 
mane in  his  ideas  of  older  nations  becomes 
more  intelligently  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  his  own  people,  country,  and  home.  In 
so  far  as  the  newspaper  tends  to  focus 
attention  daily  on  the  doings  of  the  whole 
world,  it  tends  to  do  away  with  the  preju- 


Influence  of  the  American  Newspaper  163 

dice  and  the  international  and  internecine 
hatreds  which  are  for  the  most  part  the 
result  of  ignorance  and  narrowness.  The 
world  is  made  smaller,  safer,  and  more 
habitable  by  the  press,  which  through  its 
great  international  association  tends  to 
unite  the  different  countries  and  to  make 
them  one.  It  is  a  great  human  agency  with 
the  power  to  do  away  with  international 
conflicts,  and  while  too  often  it  fails  to  use 
this  power  or  exercises  it  in  a  contrary  direc- 
tion, yet  on  the  whole  by  turning  a  light  up- 
on the  thrones,  the  cabinets,  or  parliaments 
of  all  nations,  it  tends  by  that  act  to  impose 
moral  restraint  on  rulers  and  to  cultivate 
in  the  individual  a  decent  regard  for  the 
opinions  of  all  mankind.  When  it  plays 
this  role,  it  is  a  great  moral  influence,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  developing  a 
spirit  of  internationalism  and  universal 
peace. 

In  brief,  the  influence  of  contemporary 
American  journalism  of  today  is  one  that 
neither  wholly  degrades  nor  entirely  ele^ 


164        The  American  Newspaper 

vates.  It  would  seem  that  the  newspaper 
of  our  own  time  mirrors  public  opinion, 
rather  than  shapes  it  for  good  or  ill.  The 
editor  seeking  to  make  his  paper  popular 
plays  upon  the  prejudices  of  the  crowd  and 
is  himself  in  turn  played  upon  by  them. 
There  is  always  present  this  steady  inter- 
change of  influence  and  suggestion  between 
the  reading  public  and  the  news-giving 
daily.  There  is  always  a  permanent  inter- 
relation and  interaction  between  these  two 
factors.  Neither  one  can  exist  without  the 
other  and  both  interplay  with  similar  re- 
sults. Any  rise  in  the  standards  of  news- 
papers means  a  relative  rise  in  public 
morality  and  vice  versa.  In  short,  the  wel- 
fare of  each  depends  upon  the  other;  what 
benefits  or  degrades  one,  benefits  or  de- 
grades the  other.  And  if  this  be  true,  the 
great  and  final  question,  a  question  which 
this  study  does  not  pretend  to  solve,  is 
whence  comes  the  influence  that  finally  de- 
termines the  character  of  both  press  and 
public  ? 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  INFLUENCE 
OF  THE  AMERICAN  NEWS- 
PAPER 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  INFLUENCE  OF 
THE  AMERICAN  NEWSPAPER 

Having  considered  at  some  length  the 
nature  and  influence  of  the  American  press, 
it  is  now  in  order  to  consider  what  has  made 
the  press  of  this  country  the  vigorous,  com- 
mercial, self-interested,  and  sensational 
press  that  it  is.  Since  the  American  press 
seeks  to  echo  and  cater  to  taste  rather  than 
to  shape  it,  it  will  be  plain  at  the  outset,  that 
there  is  some  difflculty  in  distinguishing 
between  cause  and  effect.  What  follows 
represents  an  attempt  to  analyze  that  pub- 
lic taste  which  at  once  sways  the  newspaper 
and  is  in  turn  swayed  by  it. 

A  PSYCHOLOGICAL   INTERPRETATION  OF 

THE  INFLUENCE   OF   AMERICAN 

NEWSPAPERS 

The  fundamental  cause  of  the  nature 
and  influence  of  the  American  press  is  to  be 
found  in  the  nature  of  the  American  people. 
167 


1 68        The  American  Newspaper 

No  wiser  or  more  prophetic  sentences  could 
have  been  uttered  than  those  deHvered  by 
Whitelaw  Reid  in  the  year  1879.  He  said 
in  part : 

The  thing  always  forgotten  by  the  closest  critic 
of  the  newspaper  is  that  they  must  be  measurably 
what  their  audiences  make  them — what  their  con- 
stituencies call  for  and  sustain.  The  newspaper 
cannot  uniformly  resist  the  popular  sentiment  any 
more  than  the  stream  can  flow  above  its  fountain. 
To  say  that  the  newspapers  are  getting  worse  is 

to  say  that  the  people  are  getting  worse It 

even  works  more  evil  now  than  it  ever  wrought 
before,  because  its  influence  is  more  widespread; 
but  it  also  works  more  good  and  its  habitual  atti- 
tude is  one  of  effort  toward  the  best  its  audiences 
will  tolerate.  There  is  not  a  newspaper  today  in 
New  York,  faulty  as  they  are,  that  is  not  better 
than  its  audience. 

In  other  words,  American  journalism  is 
measurably  no  worse  nor  any  better  than 
the  American  people.  "Qu'est  ce  la 
presse  ?  C'est  la  voix  de  la  nation."  The 
newspaper  is  the  mirror  of  the  community 
— this  is  my  thesis. 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence    169 

Professor  Hadley  in  his  latest  book, 
Standards  of  Public  Morality,  has  a  chapter 
on  the  formation  of  pubhc  opinion  which 
will  serve  in  its  admirable  phrasing  as  a 
point  of  departure  for  our  examination  of 
the  causes  of  the  influence  of  American 
journalism.  In  discussing  the  nature  of 
public  opinion,  Professor  Hadley  says  on 
pp.  13  and  16: 

We  have  no  universal  public  opinion 

We  have  sections  of  public  opinion,  working  sepa- 
rately and  often  pulling  apart.  The  Tribune 
appeals  with  confidence  to  the  public  opinion  of  one 
set  of  people;  the  Post  to  the  public  opinion  of  a 
somewhat  different  set;  the  Journal  to  the  public 
opinion  of  a  set  far  different  from  either.  The 
facts,  views,  and  motives  which  are  familiar  to  the 
readers  of  one  of  these  papers  are  unfamiliar  to 
the  others.  Each  group  believes  that  its  opinions 
represent  a  real  understanding  of  the  needs  of  the 
people,  and  that  the  views  of  the  other  groups 
represent  the  arguments  of  selfish  hypocrites, 
doubly  detestable  because  they  take  the  form  of 
an  appeal  to  pubhc  interest.  In  the  face  of  diffi- 
culties and  schisms  of  this  kind,  it  sometimes 
seems  as  if  there  were   no  common  ground  on 


1 70        The  American  Newspaper 

which  to  stand;  no  set  of  facts  sufl&ciently  known 
to  all  men  to  serve  as  a  starting  point  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  pubUc  aflfairs;  no  opportunity  for  getting 
on  a  universal  basis  of  sympathy  in  the  domain 
of  public  morals  corresponding  to  that  on  which 
we  stand  in  our  private  morality. 

One  of  the  great  difificulties  which  beset  the 
newspaper  editor  when  he  tries  to  discuss  public 
questions  is  the  fact  that  most  of  his  readers  have 
a  strong  pecuniary  or  personal  interest  in  having 
them  decided  in  some  particular  way.  The  man 
who  owes  money  Ukes  all  the  argument  in  favor  of 
a  depreciating  currency,  and  is  suspicious  of  those 
on  the  other  side.  With  the  man  who  has  money 
due  him  the  case  is  reversed.  The  man  who  im- 
ploys  labor  feels  the  need  of  giving  the  largest 
amount  of  control  to  him  who  risks  his  capital. 
The  arguments  in  favor  of  the  rights  of  the  capi- 
talist employers  seem  to  him  strong;  all  efforts 
to  limit  those  rights  savor  of  immoraUty.  The 
laborer,  on  the  contrary,  who  works  for  another 
man,  feels  that  he  in  giving  his  effort  and  in  per- 
haps risking  his  life  has  far  more  to  do  with  the 
product  than  the  man  who  has  simply  invested  his 
money.  He  looks  with  favor  at  every  argument 
concerning  the  rights  of  labor  and  with  disfavor 
at  any  argument  or  precedent  which  seems  to  sup- 
port the  claims  of  property.    If  an  editor  wishes 


Causes  oj  Newspaper  Influence    171 

to  make  his  paper  popular  with  a  certain  class,  he 
lays  stress  on  the  arguments  which  that  class  likes 
and  feeds  them  with  facts  which  they  want  to  be- 
lieve. His  readers  gradually  get  into  a  position 
where  their  prepossessions  have  been  strengthened 
until  they  become  prejudices,  and  where  misin- 
formation has  been  added  to  prejudice  until  it 
becomes  almost  irremovable. 

This  citation  substantiates  the  behef, 
that  if  we  desire  to  gain  an  insight  into  the 
nature  and  causes  of  the  influence  of 
American  journahsm,  we  must  recognize 
that  both  nature  and  cause  He  in  pubHc 
opinion,  that  is,  in  the  mind  of  the  people. 
A  complete  investigation  of  the  subject 
should  of  course  treat  also  the  economic 
influences  which  are  behind  this  American 
newspaper  as  they  are  behind  the  people 
and  their  opinions.  It  is  certain  that  the 
present-day  spirit  of  commercialism  and 
consolidation  in  the  field  of  production  has 
gone  a  long  way  to  determine  the  nature 
of  the  American  press,  but  it  was  the 
American  people  first  upon  whom  these 
economic  changes  played.     The  key  to  the 


172         The  American  Newspaper 

question,  What  are  the  causes  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  most  typical  of  the  American 
newspapers  ?  is  found  in  an  interpretation 
of  the  psychology  of  the  typical  American 
and  in  the  analysis  of  the  newspaper  as  a 
purely  business  undertaking. 

These  two  interpretations  are  well  pre- 
sented by  William  Marion  Reedy,  the 
editor  of  the  St.  Louis  Mirror,  and  by 
President  Hadley  of  Yale  University.  In 
an  address  delivered  before  the  Missouri 
Press  Association  in  which  he  declares 
flatly  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  "free 
press"  in  America,  Mr.  Reedy  says  in  part: 

In  every  city  the  papers  may  appear  to  fight 
one  another  upon  the  surface,  but  in  every  case 
they  have  a  business  combination  to  shut  out  the 
newcomer.  The  established  daily  papers  in  any 
city  are  as  much  a  trust  as  the  steel  trust  or  the 
Standard  Oil — while  the  Associated  Press  is 
another  national  trust — and  it  is  exceptionally 
rare  that  anyone  can  break  in  upon  the  combination 
and  fight  it;  and  if  one  does,  it  must  be  solely 
through  the  possession  of  financial  support,  great 
enough  to  fight  to  a  finish  the  established  news- 


Causes  oj  Newspaper  Influence    173 

paper  wealth  of  the  community,  controUing  and 
owning  carriers,  newsboys,  and  newsdealers  abso- 
lutely. Of  course,  when  a  newspaper  so  backed 
succeeds  in  establishing  itself,  it  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  paper  will  take  up  the  cause  of 
the  people  against  the  interest  of  the  men  of  great 
wealth  who  have  put  their  money  into  the  new 
journalistic  enterprise.  The  newspapers  of  any 
city  will  always  be  found  a  unit  when  there  comes 
up  any  matter  in  which  the  public-service  interests 
and  the  interests  of  the  advertisers  are  a  unit. 

This  is  the  economic  aspect  of  the  sub- 
ject. 

President  Hadley  in  a  widely  debated 
article  in  the  Youth^s  Companion,  gives  us 
a  psychological  explanation  of  the  real  cause 
of  American  journalism.  He  says  about  the 
present  journalistic  conditions  in  America: 

Most  of  the  men  who  edit  newspapers  will  give 
the  people  the  kind  of  newspapers  they  want. 
There  will,  of  course,  be  exceptionally  good  editors, 
who  will  make  their  papers  better  than  their 
readers  demand,  and  try  to  educate  the  people  up 
to  a  higher  level;  just  as  there  will  be  exceptionally 
bad  editors,  who  will  make  papers  worse  than  the 
readers  want,   and  be  the  instruments,  whether 


174        The  American  Newspaper 

they  try  to  or  not,  of  educating  the  public  down 
to  a  lower  level. 

But  the  average  editor  will  work  for  the  average 
reader.  He  cannot  be  any  more  independent  of 
the  man  who  buys  his  goods  than  the  manufacturer 
or  merchant  can  be.  A  manufacturer  who  refuses 
to  produce  tilings  that  the  people  want,  because 
he  thinks  they  ought  to  want  something  better, 
will  be  driven  out  of  business,  and  so  vAW  a  news- 
paper editor.  People  sometimes  talk  of  "yellow 
journalism  "  as  if  the  editors  of  the  yellow  journals 
were  solely  responsible  for  their  existence.  They 
are  responsible  to  some  degree;  but  to  a  still  larger 
degree  the  responsibiUty  lies  with  the  public  that 
will  buy  and  read  their  news 

If  the  public  cares  more  for  sensations  than  it 
does  for  facts,  more  for  excitement  than  it  does 
for  evidence,  it  is  obvious  that  its  opinions  will  be 
based  on  wrong  data  and  often  on  dangerous  ones, 
and  that  its  conclusions  will  be  unwise  and  irre- 
sponsible. And  as  long  as  pubUc  opinion  is  unvdse 
or  irresponsible,  the  government  of  the  country 
will  be  bad. 

C.  F.  Lydston  in  his  volume  on  The 
Diseases  of  Society  says, 

America  has  for  many  years  furnished  condi- 
tions  peculiarly   favorable   to   degeneracy.     The 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence    175 

strenuous  life  of  the  average  American,  certainly 
of  every  ambitious  citizen,  has  many  aspects  bear- 
ing upon  degeneracy  in  general,  and  vice  and  crime 
in  particular.  Lust  for  wealth,  desire  for  social 
supremacy,  ambition  for  fame,  love  of  display,  late 
hours,  lack  of  rest,  excitement,  the  consumption  of 
alcohol,  especially  by  women — all  these  factors 
combine  to  cause  what  Beard  termed  a  distinctly 
American  disease.  The  body  social  is  growing 
more  and  more  neuropathic.  In  the  train  of  this 
widespread  neuropathy  comes  degeneracy,  with  all 
its  evil  brood  of  social  disorders. 

It  would  be  impossible  in  the  compass 
of  this  brief  study  to  make  a  thorough 
psychological  examination  of  American 
life  and  opinion.  It  will  suffice  here  to 
enumerate  and  analyze  somewhat  cate- 
gorically those  characteristics  of  the  Ameri- 
can public  which  seem  fundamental  for  our 
purpose,  that  is,  which  seem  to  be  the 
source  of  the  nature  and  influence  of  the 
American  press.  Distinctly  American  char- 
acteristics may  tentatively  be  classified 
under  six  general  headings:  (i)  audacity; 
(2)  independence;    (3)  cupidity;    (4)  curi- 


176        The  American  Newspaper 

osity;  (5)  strenuousness,  and  (6)  love  of 
change.  From  audacity  there  arises  a 
spirit  of  enterprise,  from  independence  a 
spirit  of  competition,  and  from  cupidity  a 
spirit  of  commerciahsm.  From  curiosity 
is  derived  a  desire  to  learn,  from  strenu- 
ousness a  desire  to  do  something  new.  As 
seen  in  the  first  part  of  this  study,  all  these 
traits  are  reflected  in  the  enterprising,  com- 
peting, commercial  journal  with  its  hunt 
for  information,  its  desire  to  do  things,  and 
its  tendency  toward  sensationalism. 

First,  let  us  examine  the  trait  of  audacity, 
which  is  expressed  through  the  pluck,  bold- 
ness, and  daring  of  the  adventurous  and 
courageous  American.  The  history  of  this 
country  has  aided  to  bring  out  clearly  this 
trait  of  our  national  temperament.  The 
''winning  of  the  West"  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  the  story  of  the  heroic  exploration 
of  the  wild  frontier  by  men  of  pluck  and 
courage.  This  young  nation  has  impetu- 
ously plunged  into  many  new  and  vast 
fields  of  endeavor.    It  has  assumed  great 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence    177 

burdens  lightly  and  even  carelessly.  It  has 
accepted  its  position  as  a  world  power  and 
has  shouldered  large  economic  problems 
with  noticeable  nonchalance.  The  whole 
story  of  this  country  is  one  of  boldly  seek- 
ing and  finding;  one  of  energetic  and  light- 
hearted  exploration  and  discovery,  of  lusty 
pioneering  and  settling.  Our  people  have 
entered  new  lands,  new  fields  of  effort,  and 
new  problems.  Out  of  all  this  naturally 
evolved  the  national  trait  of  enterprise.  We 
have  become  a  pushing,  industrious,  and 
enterprising  race.  Our  whole  life  is  one 
round  of  energy.  Our  newspapers  with 
other  national  institutions  have  become 
permeated  with  this  spirit  and  the  editor, 
catching  the  spirit  of  enterprise  in  the  air, 
is  forever  trying  new  "stunts,"  making 
new  "literary"  adventures,  or  daily  at- 
tempting something  novel  to  startle  or  to 
amuse.  In  his  opinion  his  chief  problem 
is  to  strike  some  new  vein ;  to  be  the  first  to 
discover  some  larger  opportunities.  Every 
new  "make-up,"  every  new  arrangement  of 


178        The  American  Newspaper 

form,  every  new  advertisement  is  but  a  sign 
of  this  enterprising  desire  to  push  ahead 
and  to  outdo  one's  rivals. 

Closely  allied  with  this  characteristic 
of  audacity  and  enterprise  is  the  national 
trait  of  independence  that  gives  birth  to  the 
spirit  of  competition.  This  instinct  for 
independence  was  planted  on  these  shores 
by  our  Puritan  forefathers,  was  incor- 
porated in  the  American  commonwealth, 
and  nursed  into  full  growth  during  the  sub- 
sequent development  of  the  country.  It 
gave  scope  to  the  doctrine  of  individualism. 
Here  was  a  new  land  to  be  developed,  here 
was  a  wilderness  to  be  conquered,  here 
mines  were  to  be  worked,  and  here  indus- 
tries were  to  be  established.  This  was  a 
new  country  in  which  the  principles  of 
equality  were  proclaimed  and  where  every 
man  was  to  have  an  equal  chance  to  win  his 
spurs  in  whatever  way  he  saw  fit.  All  this 
gave  impetus  to  the  competitive  spirit 
innate  in  man  and  made  the  United 
States   the   place  where   this   competitive 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     1 79 

spirit   expresses   itself   in   its   most   acute 
form. 

Cupidity  is  another  national  character- 
istic that  the  building  of  the  nation  has 
nurtured.  Through  the  spirit  of  enter- 
prise and  competition  men  were  urged  to 
succeed,  to  win  at  all  costs.  They  be- 
lieved in  that  false  doctrine  that  "the 
means  justified  the  ends"  and  thus  in  the 
course  of  history  it  has  often  happened  that 
we  have  acted  with  recklessness  and  cruelty. 
An  eager  desire  to  possess  something,  a 
mad  craving  for  money  gain,  an  inordinate 
wish  for  wealth  and  power  and  comfort  is 
common  to  all  people,  but  it  is  especially 
typical  of  the  American.  In  a  magazine 
article.  Professor  Taussig,  of  Havard  Uni- 
versity, has  well  stated  the  four  impulses 
that  urge  most  men  in  their  struggle  after 
wealth.  These  are:  (i)  love  of  ease  and 
comfort;  (2)  desire  for  distinction;  (3) 
impulse  of  native  energy;  (4)  passion  for 
power  and  mastery.  Out  of  this  desire  for 
something    there    sprang   into    being    the 


i8o         The  American  Newspaper 

modern  spirit  of  commercialism  that  has  so 
vitally  affected  our  democratic  institutions. 
That  the  United  States  constitutes  a  young 
nation,  that  it  is  an  energetic,  wealthy  in- 
dustrial nation,  that  it  is  an  enterprising, 
combative,  and  progressive  nation  is  ob- 
vious. The  American  paper  is  an  admi- 
rable example  of  an  institution  whose  devel- 
opment has  been  vitally  affected  by  these 
three  instincts. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the 
last  three  characteristics  which  play  just  as 
important  a  part  as  those  mentioned  in  de- 
fining the  influence  of  American  journalism. 
First,  there  is  the  national  trait  of  curiosity, 
for  the  American  usually  desires  to  know 
things  as  well  as  to  do  things.  He  is  an 
investigator,  he  is  an  inventor,  he  is  an 
explorer,  and  an  adventurer  by  nature. 
He  is  inquisitive  as  well  as  acquisitive. 
He  yearns  to  unravel  the  mysterious,  to 
probe  the  unknown,  to  learn  the  hidden 
secrets  of  life.  He  wants  to  see  new  faces, 
to  visit  new  places,  to  hear  new  talk,  and  to 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     i8i 

learn  new  things.  He  wants  information, 
and  it  is  this  desire  which  the  newspaper 
by  its  great  mass  of  news  tries  to  satisfy  and 
which  it  does  satisfy.  The  American 
wants  to  know  what  the  rest  of  the  world  is 
doing,  and  especially  what  it  thinks  about 
him.  He  wants  to  know  the  world  as  it  is; 
not  what  happened  in  the  past,  but  what  is 
going  on  now.  As  a  result,  American  news- 
papers exceed  foreign  journals  in  the  size 
and  quantity  of  news  and  err  rather  in 
quality  than  in  any  other  particular.  If 
they  give  more  for  the  money  it  is  chiefly 
in  the  form  of  a  greater  quantity  of 
superficial  facts  which  the  reader  himself 
demands. 

This  country  has  rightly  been  called  the 
land  of  the  "strenuous,"  and  the  popular 
idol.  President  Roosevelt,  typifies  this 
national  characteristic.  The  American  is 
a  busy,  pushing,  hustling  individual  and  so 
is  the  American  newspaper.  He  must 
always  be  doing  something;  anything  to 
keep  busy.    The  man  who  retires  from 


1 82         The  American  Newspaper 

business  early  is  put  down  as  a  "dead 
one."  Behind  the  national  desire  for 
power  and  distinction  is  this  innate  restless- 
ness and  energy  that  is  inborn  in  the  aver- 
age American.  If,  as  a  people,  we  are  do- 
ing many  things  that  are  on  a  large  scale, 
it  is  because  of  this  great  store  of  energy. 
Embedded  in  this  life  of  Rush  is  the  desire 
to  see  things  done  quickly  and  to  this 
demand  the  newspaper  caters.  The  news- 
paper knows  that  it  must  furnish  prompt 
news,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  truth. 
It  must  get  out  the  first  "extra"  at  any 
cost.  It  must  give  the  readers  something 
for  their  money  and  at  once.  Hence  the 
scramble  after  news,  the  ambition  to  outdo 
one's  rivals,  the  insatiable  desire  to  furnish 
"beats"  and  "extras."  Strenuousness 
makes  a  demand  for  news  and  plenty  of  it, 
and  so  the  editor,  himself  a  strenuous 
American,  invents  ever  new  methods  to  get 
the  news  in  the  quickest  way  and  to  "dish 
it  up  for  breakfast  in  the  most  attractive 
style."     This  naturally  gives  rise  to  sen- 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     183 

sational  and  "yellow"  methods  in  journal- 
ism. 

The  last  trait  of  the  American  citizen  is 
his  fickleness.  This  potent  desire  for 
change  and  variety  gives  birth  to  love  for 
sensation,  for  novel  things,  and  to  weari- 
ness of  the  old.  Americans  are  bored  if 
they  must  always  read  the  same  books, 
meet  the  same  people,  see  the  same  plays 
or  pictures,  and  they  are  forever  seeking 
''the  latest  and  queerest."  As  yet  we  are 
not  citizens  of  a  nation  bound  by  tradition 
and  custom;  we  live  not  in  the  past  but  in 
a  present  that  is  constantly  losing  itself  in 
the  future.  The  average  American  citizen 
gets  tired  of  his  public  officials ;  he  believes 
every  man  should  have  a  chance.  The 
American  loves  sensation  in  all  that  he 
says  and  does;  he  is  constantly  startling 
himself  and  the  rest  of  the  world  by  new 
achievements  and  new  antics.  He  is  build- 
ing the  largest  locomotives,  the  highest  sky- 
scrapers, winning  the  Olympic  contests, 
or    making    the    aviator    record.     He    is 


184         The  American  Newspaper 

spectacular  and  is  fond  of  the  glare  and 
flash  of  the  limelight.  He  enjoys  the 
shouts  and  bonfires  of  election  time;  he 
craves  excitement.  He  has  the  habit  of 
playing  practical  jokes  on  his  friends,  of 
surprising  his  enemies,  and  of  amusing 
himself.  He  also  enjoys  the  grotesque  and 
the  foolish.  All  this  is  reflected  in  the 
American  newspaper,  both  because  the 
American  newspaper  wants  the  greatest 
number  of  readers  and  because  it  is  written 
by  Americans.  Because  of  this  love  of 
sensation  we  have  the  yellow  and  sensa- 
tional newspapers.  Mr.  Stringer,  of  Cana- 
da, in  his  recent  arraignment  of  the 
"Canada-fakirs"  has  this  to  say: 

The  gravest  charge  against  the  yellow  journalist 
is  that  his  end  is  not  truth,  but  sensation.  He 
may  even  give  us  truth,  as  he  claims,  but  his  very 
menace  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  truth  he  gives  us 
is  truth  marshaled  and  colored  by  a  febrile  and 
unstable  personality. 

And  so  the  somewhat  dubious  influence 
wielded  by  the  American  press  seems  to  me 


Causes  oj  Newspaper  Influence     185 

to  be  caused  by  marked  characteristics  of 
the  American  people.  The  Am.erican  is 
sensational  and  so  is  his  paper ;  the  Ameri- 
can is  democratic  and  so  is  his  paper. 
The  successful,  up-to-date  editor  does  little 
more  than  adapt  his  newspaper  to  the 
demands  and  temperament  of  the  pubHc. 
He  strives  to  print  that  class  of  matter 
which  especially  appeals  to  the  marked 
traits  which  have  been  indicated. 

Throughout  this  discussion,  we  have 
been  examining  in  particular  the  sensa- 
tional newspaper  and  the  aim  has  been 
to  show  that  this,  the  typical  journal,  is  a 
reflection  of  the  American  people.  A  simi- 
lar analysis  of  "yellow"  journalism  ought 
to  show  the  same  facts  in  exaggeration, 
and  the  writer  has  ventured  to  quote  at 
length  from  a  recent  article  in  the  American 
Magazine  for  March,  1908,  by  Professor  W. 
I.  Thomas,  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
who  has  made  therein  an  admirable  study 
of  the  interesting  question,  Why  does 
yellow    journalism    prosper?    When    ap- 


1 86         The  American  Newspaper 

plied  to  American  life,  Professor  Thomas' 
conclusions  lead  in  the  same  direction  as 
that  in  which  I  have  been  trying  to  turn 
attention.  Professor  Thomas  speaks  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  psychologist  who  aims 
to  analyze  the  current  journalistic  antics. 
He  says  in  part  that  yellow  journalism 
owes  its  existence  to  the  persistence  in  men 
of  primitive  emotions  of  an  essentially  anti- 
social character,  and  to  the  fact  that  emo- 
tions are  pleasurable,  no  matter  what  their 
origin,  and  that  people  will  pay  to  experi- 
ence shock.  There  is,  he  continues,  the 
emotional  interest  of  the  reflex  iy^t  repre- 
sented by  the  whole  gamut  of  competitive 
games.  Then  there  is  a  "second  form  of 
shock  associated  with  horrors,  misfortunes, 

detractions,   and    slanders Artistic 

presentations  of  which  tragedy  is  an 
example  are  conflict  situations  of  a  general- 
ized and  reflective  type,  while  scientific  and 
business  pursuits  are  really  of  the  hunting 
pattern  of  interest,  involving  the  same 
emotional  strain  as  the  chase." 


Causes  0}  Newspaper  Influence     187 

The  yellow  feature  of  journalism  we  are 
told  falls  largely  into  the  second  class  above, 
depending  on  the  interest  attaching  to  the 
disastrous.     To  quote  again : 

If  a  yellow  sheet  be  analyzed,  it  will  be  found 
that  it  handles  events  and  persons  from  the  pain 
or  disaster  standpoint.  The  event  itself  is  of  no 
significance.  The  loss  of  Hfe,  the  loss  of  happiness, 
the  loss  of  property,  the  loss  of  reputation,  death 
and  detraction,  is  the  whole  story.  In  a  word,  it  is 
an  appeal  to  the  hate  reflex. 

But  the  yellow  press  does  not  stop  with  the 
singling  out  and  the  overemphasis  of  situations  of 
the  fear-and-hate  reflex.  It  distorts  incidents  and 
situations  so  they  will  correspond  to  the  most  crude 
and  brutal  conditions  of  consciousness  and  desire. 
It  perverts  facts  and  manufactures  stories  pur- 
porting to  be  true,  for  the  sake  of  producing  an 
emotional  shock  greater  than  would  follow  on  the 
presentation  of  the  exact  truth. 

Professor  Thomas  proceeds  further  to 
assert,  that  the  yellow  journal  does  not 
differ  from  certain  legitimate  forms  of  art 
in  the  material  employed,  but  only  in  the 
manner  of  handling  the  materials.     Thus: 


1 88         The  American  Newspaper 

Love,  hate,  fear,  despair,  intrigue,  sentiment, 
adventure,  and  the  marvelous  are  the  subjects  of 
art  as  well  as  of  the  yellow  journal ;  but  art  in  the 
proper  sense,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  handles  its 
materials  from  a  generalized,  or  ideal,  standpoint, 
and  with  some  conscious  reference  to  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  type  of  action.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  reflect  or  mimic  the  elemental  emotions  and 
secure  a  shock  unmodified  by  any  conscious  over- 
sight, is  a  characteristic  both  of  yellow  and  of  that 
which  we,  for  lack  of  a  more  definite  terminology, 
are  accustomed  to  call  low  forms  of  art.  In  this 
sense,  there  is,  of  course,  yellow  art  as  well  as 
yellow  journalism  and  the  yellow  journalism  is 
worse  than  the  yellow  art  only  in  regard  to  those 
numerous  cases  where  fictions  are  presented  as 
reahties.  The  yellow  journal  ....  is  a  positive 
agent  for  vice  and  crime.  The  condition  of  mo- 
raUty,  as  well  as  of  mental  life,  in  a  community 
depends  on  the  prevailing  copies  of  this  news- 
paper. A  people  is  profoundly  influenced  by  what- 
ever is  persistently  brought  to  its  attention.  A 
good  illustration  of  this  is  the  fact  that  an  article 
in  commerce — a  food,  a  luxury,  a  medicine,  or  a 
stimulant — can  always  be  sold  in  immense  quan- 
tities if  it  be  persistently  and  largely  advertised. 
In  the  same  way,  advertising  crime,  vice,  and 
vulgarity  on  a  scale  unheard  of  before. in  the  annals 


Causes  oj  Newspaper  Influence     189 

of  history  has  the  same  effect — it  increases  crime, 
vice,  and  vulgarity  enormously. 

Professor  Thomas  elsewhere  asks  the 
question,  If  truth  and  the  knowledge  of 
truth  are  so  valued  and  the  machinery  for 
securing  them  in  advanced  societies  is  so 
elaborate,  how  are  we  to  explain  the  exist- 
ence and  popularity  of  the  most  highly 
elaborated  organ  of  untruth  ever  developed 
in  the  history  of  society  ?  The  explanation, 
he  states,  seems  to  lie  along  two  lines  as 
follows : 

(i)  In  the  existence  of  an  invincible  appetite  for 
sensation  in  human  nature,  and  the  failure  of 
society  up  to  the  present  point  to  substitute  social 
for  anti-social  feeling  in  the  popular  mind;  and 
(2)  in  the  fact  that  the  art  of  printing  is  so  ennobled 
by  its  historical  association  with  the  pursuit  of 
truth  and  with  the  interests  of  humanity,  that  we 
have  been  slow  to  perceive  and  credit  the  essential 
viciousness  of  the  operations  of  the  yellow  press. 
The  traditions  of  the  press  are  so  fine  and  printing 
is  so  deliberate  an  act  that  we  have  a  persistent 
faith  on  the  printed  page;  and  even  after  we  have 
been  repeatedly  deceived  we  still  find  it  difficult 
to  believe  that  anything  printed  can  be  untrue. 


iQo         The  American  Newspaper 

But  our  faith  is  departing.  At  present  we  believe 
nothing  that  we  see  in  the  dailies,  or  at  any  rate 
we  do  not  beUeve  it  absolutely 

So  much  for  the  psychological  causes 
of  the  influence  of  the  press,  derived  on  the 
one  hand,  from  the  psychological  make-up 
of  the  American  people,  and  on  the  other, 
as  Professor  Thomas  points  out,  in  certain 
universal  traits  of  human  nature. 

AN  ECONOMIC  INTERPRETATION  OF 
THE   CAUSES   OF  AMERICAN 
NEWSPAPERS 

In  the  previous  subdivision  of  this  chap- 
ter we  discussed  the  psychological  aspect 
of  the  causes  of  American  journalism.  It 
was  a  study  of  the  external  causes  from 
without  the  paper,  namely,  the  character- 
istics of  the  American  people.  Here  we 
are  to  examine  the  internal  causes  as  found 
in  the  newspaper  itself.  As  in  our  previous 
study,  there  are  certain  preliminary  prem- 
ises which  must  be  established  before  pro- 
ceeding directly  to  the  main  thought.     One 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     igi 

cannot  properly  understand  the  nature  or 
problem  of  journalism  in  this  country  un- 
less he  is  familiar  with  the  economic  history 
of  the  United  States.  Every  economic 
change  in  the  country,  every  invention  and 
discovery  has  in  some  way  affected  the 
newspapers.  The  invention  of  telephone 
and  telegraph,  of  electricity,  the  increase 
in  the  facilities  of  transportation,  the  lower- 
ing of  the  stamp  rate,  have  all  been  vital 
factors  that  have  played  important  parts 
toward  increasing  the  size  and  circulation 
of  the  daily  paper.  Without  these  inven- 
tions modern  journalism  would  not  be 
what  it  is  today.  It  has  been  through  these 
changes  that  it  has  come  to  its  present  type 
and  only  through  these  means  has  it  been 
able  to  assume  its  present  character.  More- 
over, along  with  our  general  economic 
history  there  has  been  a  marked  tendency 
toward  the  concentration  of  large  capital. 
Trusts  have  sprung  up  all  over  the  land. 
Everything  possible  was  made  into  a  trust. 
Naturally   newspapers   followed,    so   that 


192         The  American  Newspaper 

today  the  average  metropolitan  daily  means 
an  investment  of  a  million  dollars  or  more. 
American  journalism  is  in  a  sense  a 
product  of  our  American  democratic  institu- 
tions which  connote  a  high  degree  of  free- 
dom. It  is  likewise  to  some  degree  a 
result  of  American  economic  conditions. 
Its  characteristics  plainly  show  the  effects 
of  this  age  of  modern  industrialism.  There 
is  a  profound  truth  in  the  opening  para- 
graph of  the  Introduction  to  Professor 
Veblen's  book,  The  Theory  of  Business 
Enterprise.     He  says, 

The  material  framework  of  modern  civilization 
is  the  industrial  system,  and  the  directing  force 
which  animates  this  framework  is  business  enter- 
prise. To  a  greater  extent  than  any  other  known 
phase  of  culture  modern  Christendom  takes  its 
complexion  from  its  economic  organization.  This 
modern  economic  organization  is  the  "Capitalistic 
System"  or  "Modern  Industrial  System"  so  called. 

These  few  lines  contain  a  world  of  mean- 
ing, and  are  especially  applicable  to  Ameri- 
can journalism. 


Causes  oj  Newspaper  Injluence     193 

A  newspaper  like  all  social  institutions 
reflects  the  different  epochs  through  which 
it  passes.  When  the  size  of  a  sheet  of  paper 
and  of  a  press  plate  was  limited  by  condi- 
tions of  manufacture  to  the  sweep  of  a 
man's  forearm  in  paper-making  or  in  work- 
ing a  hand-press,  the  newspaper  consisted 
of  only  one  large  folio  sheet  doubled.  When 
changes  took  place  in  paper  manufactured 
at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  and 
in  the  bed-plate  of  a  press  at  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  when  power 
was  applied  to  printing,  then  the  news- 
paper began  to  be  folded  and  enlarged,  so 
that  instead  of  only  four  sheets  there 
were  sixteen.  The  introduction  of  the 
cylinder  press  after  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  and  the  manufacture  of 
paper  of  any  size  from  wood  pulp,  fed  to  a 
press  from  a  spool,  changed  the  daily 
paper  to  its  present  form,  containing  a 
variable  number  of  pages  from  four  to  a 
hundred.  The  various  stages  through 
which  the  newspaper  has  passed   reflect 


194         The  American  Newspaper 

the  social  conditions  of  the  different  periods. 
The  small  local  conservative  newspaper 
before  1880  was  the  product  of  an  agri- 
cultural society.  It  dealt  little  with  the 
great  outside  world.  It  was  sectional  not 
cosmopolitan,  it  was  local  not  national,  it 
was  conservative  not  sensational,  it  was 
slow  not  progressive.  It  expressed  and 
typified  the  habits  and  temperament  of  the 
American  people  at  that  period  of  develop- 
ment. Then  came  a  period  of  transition 
in  1880  when  this  country  began  to  forge 
ahead  as  an  industrial  nation.  As  a  result, 
American  journalism  became  liberal,  pro- 
gressive, and  national.  Between  the  years 
1880-98,  the  newspaper  underwent  a  radi- 
cal change;  it  was  the  embryonic  stage 
from  which  sprang  the  modern  or  "up-to- 
date"  newspaper.  Later  it  changed  its 
standards  with  the  change  in  the  standards 
and  traditions  of  the  nation.  Since  1898 
we  have  become  an  industrial  nation 
with  colonies.  The  Spanish-American 
War  plunged  this  country  into  the  game  of 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     195 

world  politics.  So  today  we  have  a  sensa- 
tional, commercial,  and  international  news- 
paper whose  character  was  shaped  with  the 
industrial  awakening,  when  the  trusts  be- 
gan to  form  and  the  protective  tariff  was 
enforced,  and  when  cities  began  to  increase 
rapidly.  The  "machine"  has  long  since 
been  so  perfected  that  it  is  the  primary 
agent  in  every  process  in  the  production 
of  the  paper.  It  is,  however,  so  expensive 
that  the  carrying  on  of  a  newspaper  neces- 
sitates the  investment  of  a  large  capital. 
Speaking  along  the  same  line  of  thought, 
Mr.  Reedy  of  the  St.  Louis  Mirror  says : 

The  prizes  of  journalism  are  not  for  those  who 
can  think  soundly  or  write  well.  The  man  who 
writes  has  no  chance  to  reach  the  real  topmost 
power  in  journalism.  He  can  only  become  an 
employee  of  some  rich  concern,  writing  not  what 
he  believes,  but  what  his  employers  order  him  to 
think.  What  editor  today  controls  his  paper?  I 
can  think  of  but  one — dear  old  Henry  Watterson, 
a  relic  from  the  Golden  Age.  Where  is  there  an 
editor  today  like  Dana,  Greeley,  Halstead,  McCul- 
lagh,  Hyde,  Joseph  Medill,  Raymond — a  man  who 


196        The  American  Newspaper 

makes  his  paper's  policy  the  expression  of  himself 
alone?  ....  The  owners  of  newspapers  are 
business  men.  They  want  dividends.  They  want 
the  business,  the  commercial  ideal,  upheld  at  all 
hazards.  They  must  get  the  money  from  the  men 
who  have  it,  they  must  cater  to  please  the  men  who 
run  the  community,  and  such  men  are  out  for  their 
own  pockets  first,  last,  and  all  the  time.  All  the  rest 
is  "leather  and  prunella!"  The  great  intellectual 
personaUty  no  longer  dominates  the  great  paper. 
The  supreme  headship  of  a  great  newspaper  is  not 
the  man  who  may  be  turned  out  in  a  school  of  jour- 
naUsm  but  a  money-maker.  The  joumahst  proper 
can  never  be  more  than  a  hired  man  on  a  great 
paper.  So  a  school  of  journalism  does  not  promise 
the  sort  of  success  that  means  the  exercise  of  the 

real   power   of   journalism Everything   in 

this  country  has  been  regulated,  more  or  less,  ex- 
cept the  daily  press.  The  daily  press  has  partici- 
pated, more  or  less,  in  the  regulation,  but  there  are 
reasons  for  believing  that  one  of  the  greatest  evils 
in  the  United  States  is  this  same  daily  press  itself. 
Thus  the  newspaper  business  is  essen- 
tially a  money-making  scheme,  dependent 
on  the  one  hand  upon  its  popularity  with 
the  public,  on  the  other,  upon  the  money 
market.     It  takes  money  to  run  it  and  it  is 


Causes  oj  Newspaper  Influence     197 

run  to  make  money.  A  propos  of  this 
statement,  the  following  conversation  be- 
tween an  eminent  speaker  and  a  reporter 
contains  a  world  of  meaning. 

Eminent  speaker — No,  sir;  nothing  from  me. 
I  have  nothing  to  say  to  a  publication  as  persist- 
ently unfair  and  vicious  as  yours.  The  Whirl  can 
go  to  Hades  with  my  compliments. 

Reporter  (cheerfully) — Can  go,  my  dear  sir;  our 
circulation  manager  is  prepared  to  prove  that  it 
does  go  there  already — has  the  largest  circulation. 

The  world  recognizes  and  applauds 
success.  So  every  paper  like  any  other 
business  concern  desires  success  and  in 
order  to  gain  this  distinction  it  must  satisfy 
the  demand  of  the  people.  The  sensational 
journal  succeeds  because  it  is  sensational 
and  because  the  people  want  sensational- 
ism and  because  those  who  advertise  in  the 
paper  see  that  it  means  business  for  them. 
If  the  people  wanted  something  else  the 
editor  could  not  sell  a  hundred  copies  of 
his  paper.  It  is  purely  a  question  of  sup- 
ply and  demand.     The  successful  editor  is 


198         The  American  Newspaper 

he  who  finds  out  what  the  people  want,  not 
what  they  need,  and  gives  it  to  them,  in 
such  form,  of  course,  as  best  suits  his  own 
wishes.  A  story  is  told  of  a  conversation 
between  a  big  cigar  dealer  and  the  owner 
of  a  series  of  yellow  journals  stretching 
across  the  continent.     The  cigar  dealer  is 

said  to  have  remarked,  "Well  Mr. — -, 

I  like  you  personally  all  right,  but  I  don't 
like  the  way  your  papers  are  managed." 
The  newspaper  magnate  turned  around 
and  pointed  across  the  street  where  a  huge 
advertisement  of  the  cigar  dealer  could  be 
seen  on  the  side  of  a  building  five  or  six 
stories  high.  "Do  you  see  your  unsightly 
sign  over  there?"  he  asked.     "Well,  Mr. 

,  I  am  doing  exactly  what  you  are 

doing  there,  no  more  and  no  less.  I  am 
giving  the  people  what  they  want  for  their 
money.  You  furnish  them  a  cigar  for  five 
cents  and  it  suits  their  fancy!  Well,  I  am 
doing  the  same  thing.  You  advertise  your 
cigar  in  this  hideous  fashion  with  your  ad- 
vertisements spread  over  buildings  and  in 


Causes  oj  Newspaper  Influence     199 

highly  colored  paints.  Well,  I  print  head- 
lines in  red  ink  all  over  my  paper  so  that  it 
will  advertise  the  paper  and  get  me  new 
subscribers  and  advertisers.  It  is  merely 
a  business  proposition." 

Since  newspaper  business  demands  a 
large  investment,  we  naturally  find  that 
most  of  our  newspapers  have  become  huge 
corporations  owned  by  a  few  individuals. 
Some  persons  own  several  newspapers. 
The  trust  tendency  among  our  newspapers 
is  marked.  A  good  many  of  these  owners 
of  our  large  newspapers  possess  them  not 
only  for  the  material  gain  but  also  for  the 
prestige  and  power  they  give.  Backed  by 
a  newspaper,  politically  and  socially,  a 
man  wields  immense  power  in  his  com- 
munity. Lately  too,  just  as  the  rulers  of 
Europe  long  ago  realized  the  power  of  the 
press  to  control  the  opinions  and  emotions 
of  the  people,  the  trust  magnates  of  the 
country  have  made  an  effort  to  get  control 
of  the  newspapers.  It  is  rumored  that  the 
yellow  newspaper  trust  owned  by  a  single 


200         The  American  Newspaper 

millionaire  who  has  indulged  his  ambition 
in  politics  much  to  the  depletion  of  his 
pocket-book  has  been  forced  to  mortgage 
its  papers.  Strange  to  relate,  the  man 
who  now  practically  controls  this  syndicate 
is  the  greatest  railroad  magnate  in  this 
country.  It  was  this  same  man  whom 
these  papers  were  constantly  abusing  a 
few  months  ago.  But  today  things  have 
changed;  no  word  is  said  against  him  or 
his  railroads.  Besides  this  change  of 
policy  toward  this  individual  and  his  busi- 
ness there  has  been  a  decided  change  of 
politics.  It  is  another  proof  of  the  old 
adage  "that  politics  makes  strange  bed- 
fellows." When  the  owner  of  these  yellow 
papers  was  forced  to  mortgage  them,  he 
changed  his  attitude  toward  the  two  great 
parties.  He  has  apparently  switched  his 
allegiance  from  the  one  that  he  lauded  in 
times  past  over  to  the  other  which  formerly 
he  most  shamelessly  attacked.  These  facts 
are  significant.  It  means  that  there  really 
is  no  such  thing  as  the  freedom  of  the  press. 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     201 

It  means  corporation  control.  The  cor- 
porations have  been  attacked  by  the  news- 
papers, which  have  used  their  columns  to 
form  public  opinion  against  them.  So 
successfully  have  newspapers  been  able  to 
bring  pressure  against  the  big  business 
interests  of  the  country,  that  the  capitalists 
for  self-preservation  have  gone  into  the 
newspaper  business  themselves.  They  have 
purchased  old  papers  or  established  new 
ones.  It  is  but  a  repetition  of  that  poHcy 
by  which  at  all  times  the  dominant  interests 
have  shown  their  realization  of  the  useful- 
ness of  the  press  as  a  means  of  control. 
Napoleon  not  only  depended  upon  the  press 
to  prepare  France  for  his  plans  and  to 
execute  many  of  them,  but  he  directed  and 
worked  the  newspapers  in  a  way  which 
showed  him  to  be  a  modern  journalist  who 
clearly  appreciated  the  power  of  the  press. 
Bismarck  was  a  manipulator  of  the  news- 
papers. He  realized  fully  the  immense 
force  they  exerted  in  the  country  and  so  he 
sought    their    aid    to    push    his    policies. 


202         The  American  Newspaper 

Roosevelt  knows  the  value  of  the  press  and 
has  used  it  wisely.  A  hurried  glance  at 
the  list  of  the  proprietors  of  the  big  city 
papers  will  show  that  they  are  owned  and 
controlled  by  a  few  millionaires  who  have 
outside  interests;  men  who  own  railroads, 
mines,  steamship  lines,  and  the  like.  The 
full  significance  of  this  fact  is  left  to  the 
reader  to  meditate  upon. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  this  same 
economic  problem  of  the  newspaper  and 
that  is  the  enormous  influence  of  the  ad- 
vertiser. The  newspaper  editor  seeks  ad- 
vertisers as  much  if  not  more  than  he  does 
subscribers.  The  business  manager  has 
more  power  in  newspaperdom  than  has 
the  circulation  editor.  The  colossal  invest- 
ment of  the  modern  daily  is  not  risked  on 
the  fluctuations  of  an  uncertain  circulation ; 
it  is  made  to  a  large  extent  on  the  profit 
derived  from  advertisements.  It  is  the 
advertisements  which  after  all  make  the 
paper  pay.  Many  of  our  large  newspapers 
have  become,  first  and  foremost,  advertis- 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     203 

ing  agencies.  A  great  part  of  their  time 
and  energy  is  devoted  to  the  pages  of  ad- 
vertising, which  to  a  considerable  extent 
determine  the  "make-up"  of  the  rest  of  the 
paper.  Advertisements  are  always  given 
the  preference,  and  so  if  there  is  too  much 
news,  it  is  thrown  in  the  waste  basket  while 
the  advertisements  are  printed.  This  is 
not  journalism  in  the  higher  sense  of  that 
term.  It  shocks  the  decent  American  to 
see  many  of  our  large  papers  become  the 
agency  for  a  huge  mass  of  cheap  and  sensa- 
tional advertisements.  That  should  be 
left  to  a  special  sheet  or  to  a  supplement. 
It  should  not  be  mixed  with  the  news  but 
the  practical  newspaper  man  will  tell  you 
that  such  a  plan  would  be  a  fiat  failure. 
Advertisements  are  spread  over  the  pages 
containing  the  news  in  order  to  catch  the 
eye  of  the  reader.  A  prominent  writer  on 
educational  matters  relates  that  he  wrote 
an  article  on  the  "Growing  Popularity  of 
Horse-Back  Riding  as  an  Exercise,"  but  it 
was  rejected   because  it  gave  offense   to 


204         The  American  Newspaper 

advertisers  of  bicycles  and  automobiles. 
In  a  similar  way  the  book  reviewer  must 
not  condemn  too  strongly  the  books  of  that 
publishing  house  that  advertises  liberally, 
nor  must  the  dramatic  critic  abuse  the 
plays  of  the  theatrical  trust.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  among  newspaper  men  that 
when  advertisements  are  small  the  circula- 
tion is  small,  when  advertisements  are  large 
the  number  of  subscribers  increases.  Ad- 
vertisers only  advertise  in  those  papers 
which  have  big  subscription  lists,  and  those 
papers  which  have  big  subscription  lists 
can  afford  to  publish  more  news  than  their 
competitors  and  to  sell  their  copies  at  a 
lower  price.  The  average  man  wants  that 
paper  which  can  give  him  the  most  news 
and  the  greatest  number  of  advertisements 
for  the  lowest  price.  Thus  it  is  seen  that 
the  business  manager  controls  the  policy 
of  the  newspaper.  The  public  gets  what 
it  demands  only  in  the  way  that  the  busi- 
ness manager  dictates.  News  is  published 
or  suppressed  according  to  when  it  suits  the 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     205 

interest  of  the  proprietors.  The  editor  gets 
his  orders  from  the  business  manager,  who 
gets  his  orders  from  the  owner  of  the  paper. 
To  illustrate,  a  story  of  a  conversation 
between  a  business  manager  and  city 
editor  of  a  morning  daily,  may  be  told  here. 

City  editor — What ! !  Not  print  anything  about 
the  fire!!  Why,  the  whole  city  is  threatened — 
biggest  blaze  in  years ! 

Business  manager — Yes,  I  know,  but  you  see, 
the  fire  started  in  McBingam's  department  store, 
one  of  our  largest  advertisers,  and  I  have  just  got 
word  from  them  that  they  would  prefer  that  we 
say  nothing  about  the  fire. 

An  anonymous  "New  York  editor,"  who 
writes  in  a  current  number  of  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  says  there  is  no  such  thing  in  this 
country  as  a  "free  and  independent  press." 

A  newspaper  is  a  business  enterprise.  In  view 
of  the  cost  of  paper  and  the  size  of  each  issue, 
tending  to  grow  larger,  every  copy  is  printed  at  a 
loss.  A  one  cent  newspaper  costs  six  mills  for  paper 
alone.  In  other  words,  the  newspaper  cannot  live 
without  its  advertisers.  It  would  be  unfair  to  say 
that   there   are   no   independent   journals   in   the 


2o6         The  American  Newspaper 

United  States;  there  are  many;  but  it  must  always 
be  remembered  that  the  advertisers  exercise  an 
enormous  power  which  only  the  very  strongest  can 
refuse  to  recognize. 

If  a  newspaper  has  such  a  circulation  that  com- 
plete publicity  can  be  secured  only  by  advertising 
in  its  columns,  whatever  its  editorial  policy  may 
be,  the  question  is  solved.  Nevertheless,  within 
the  past  three  years  the  department  stores  have 
combined  to  modify  the  policy  of  at  least  three 
New  York  daily  newspapers.  One  of  the  most 
extreme  and  professedly  independent  of  these  news- 
papers, always  taking  the  noisiest  and  most  popular 
line,  with  the  utmost  expressed  deference  to  labor 
unions,  withdrew  its  attack  upon  the  traction 
companies  during  the  time  of  the  subway  strike, 
on  the  threatened  loss  of  its  department-store  ad- 
vertising. It  has  never  dared  to  criticize  such  a 
store  for  dismissing  employees  who  attempted  to 
form  a  union.  In  other  words,  this  paper  is  not 
independent  and  in  the  last  analysis  is  governed 
by  its  advertisers. 

There  is  then  too  much  evidence  that 
the  bondage  of  the  press  to  privilege  is  still 
a  real  menace  to  our  national  life.  The 
main  points  of  this  question  have  been  so 
ably  discussed  by  Henry  George,  Jr.,  in  his 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     207 

recent  book  on  the  Menace  oj  Privilege  that 
I  feel  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote 
him.  Mr.  George  holds  that  the  press  is 
the  natural  mouthpiece  of  public  opinion 
and  that  knowing  this,  "Privilege  moves 
stealthily  to  get  control  of  that  mouth- 
piece." As  has  just  been  shown  this  is 
most  emphatically  true  at  the  present 
time.     To  continue  to  quote  Mr.  George: 

So  long  and  so  many  are  the  arms  of  privilege, 
and  so  slow  are  the  masses  of  men  to  overcome 
the  inertia  of  habit,  especially  the  habit  of  think- 
ing, that,  save  in  particular  and  superficial  aspects, 
privilege  is  for  the  present,  at  least,  safe  against 
periodical  discussion.  However  searching  the  ex- 
amination and  cogent  the  arguments  of  any  of 
these  monthlies  and  weeklies  as  to  this  or  that 
phase  of  privilege,  not  one  of  the  flourishing  ones 
will  dare  to  arraign  the  larger  and  wider  aspects 
for  fear  of  hurting  its  business  credit,  which  privi- 
lege closely  or  remotely  controls;  or  of  ofifending 
a  considerable  body  of  readers,  some  of  whom, 
belonging  to  the  privileged  class,  might  set  it  down 
for  a  "socialist"  or  "anarchist"  organ,  and  others 
of  whom  by  only  slow  degrees  in  thought,  might 
dub  it  a  "crank"  pubUcation. 


2o8         The  American  Newspaper 

It  is  patent  that  privilege  thus  puts 
distinct  Hmitations  on  the  press  by  attack- 
ing it  at  the  very  outposts.  A  newspaper 
costs  infinitely  more  to  publish  than  it  ever 
did  before  because  it  requires  a  larger  staff 
of  reporters  and  artists,  already  alluded  to, 
to  make  a  standard  newspaper.  Such  a 
paper  cannot  live  without  the  support  of 
the  propertied  classes,  and  since  the  proper- 
tied classes  have  fixed  policies  which  are 
chiefly  self-interested  policies,  the  news- 
paper tends  to  become  the  voice  of  this 
class.  Thus  the  actual  fact  is  that  the 
power  of  shaping  public  judgments  and 
educating  the  masses  is  within  the  control 
of  the  people  who  can  afford  to  pay  for 
what  they  wish  to  see  in  print.  There  is 
no  cause,  however,  for  serious  pessimism  in 
all  this,  as  Mr.  George  wisely  concludes: 

The  public  is  not  altogether  deceived.  It  sees 
the  livery.  It  reads  this  or  that  paper  and  makes 
allowance  for  bias.  This  is  the  habit  of  the  people. 
It  began  with  the  free  utterance  of  the  press. 
Every  citizen  exercised  the  same  freedom  to  judge 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     209 

as  the  editor  did  to  write.  And  thus  it  was  that 
De  Tocqueville  wrote  half  a  century  ago  that  "the 
personal  opinions  of  the  editors  have  no  weights 
in  the  eyes  of  the  public;  what  they  seek  in  a  news- 
paper is  knowledge  of  facts,  and  it  is  only  by 
altering  or  distorting  those  facts,  that  a  journalist 
can  contribute  to  the  support  of  his  own  views. 

Thus  is  the  power  of  the  press  Hmited 
and  modified  as  experience  develops  the 
pubhc  mind.  How  often  do  we  hear,  as 
a  result  of  this  loss  of  faith  in  the  news- 
paper, the  remark,  "Oh,  well,  it's  only 
newspaper  talk."  The  hope  of  the  nation 
seems  to  be  in  the  education  of  the  people . 
Provide  free  universal  education  and  as- 
similate foreign  immigration  and  we  need 
fear  little  from  this  menace  of  the  news- 
paper. 

When  it  comes  to  suggesting  a  remedy 
for  acknowledged  journalistic  shortcomings 
newspaper  men  differ.  Mr.  Reedy  inclines 
to  the  view  that 

we  shall  have  to  return  to  the  use  of  the  pamphlet, 
if  we  are  to  have  any  such  thing  as  free  utterance 
of  heretical  opinion Heretical  opinion  in 


2IO         The  American  Newspaper 

this  country  is  always  and  everywhere  nothing  but 
the  idea  that  this  government  has  departed  from 
its  original  principles,  in  that  it  has  built  up  through 
privilege  an  ohgarchy  of  wealth,  and  in  doing  so 
has  necessarily  done  most  outrageous  violence  to 
the  principle  of  equal  rights  for  all.  There  can  be 
no  privileges  if  there  be  not  an  expropriation  of 
others,  to  the  holder  of  the  privilege.  Every  privi- 
lege is  built  upon  an  arrogation  of  the  rights  of 
some  individual,  or  of  the  community  at  large. 
With  the  great  newspapers  closed  to  the  man  with 
the  new  ideas,  there  is  no  place  for  him  to  turn, 
except  to  the  pamphlet. 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Sleicher  hopes 
to  reform  the  existing  dailies.  He  is  an 
optimist.     He  pleads  for 

a  daily  newspaper  that  shall  print  less  and  better 
news;  that  shall  exercise  such  censorship  over  its 
columns  that  no  one's  character  shall  be  assailed, 
no  institution's  standing  be  discredited,  no  vested 
right  be  jeopardized,  and  no  man  or  woman's 
motives  impugned  until  the  editor  has  justified  his 
statements. 

The  "New  York"  editor  writing  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  is  more  an  opportunist 
than  an  idealist.     He  says : 


Causes  of  Newspaper  Influence     211 

Here  is  what  the  public  wants:  a  newspaper 
which  treats  its  readers  not  as  a  child  or  a  sage, 
neither  as  a  hero  nor  as  a  fool,  but  as  a  person  of 
natural  good  instincts  and  average  intelligence, 
amenable  to  reason,  and  one  to  be  taught  tactfully 
to  stand  upon  his  own  feet  rather  than  to  take  his 
principles  ready  made  from  his  teacher.  What  an 
idea!  A  paper  which  gives  the  senator  and  the 
shop  girl  what  they  both  want  to  read  and  are  the 
better  for  the  reading.  A  comic  cut,  if  its  moral 
lesson  is  true,  is  an  editorial  with  the  blessing  of 
God. 

President  Hadley  feels  that  the  real 
remedy  lies  in  the  awakening  of  a  more 
enlightened  public  sentiment  on  the  part 
of  the  newspaper  readers. 

Each  one  of  us  [he  asserts]  is  given  a  share  in 
governing  the  country,  because  it  is  supposed  that 
he  will  take  an  intelligent  interest  in  facts  which 
affect  its  management.  If  he  reads  his  news- 
paper primarily  for  the  sake  of  murders  and  prize 
fights,  and  only  looks  at  the  columns  of  public 
news  when  they  are  made  as  much  like  reports  of 
murders  and  prize  fights  as  possible,  he  fails  to  do 
his  duty  as  a  citizen. 

Farther   on,    President    Hadley   in    his 


212         The  American  Newspaper 

article  urges,  "that  the  newspaper  reader 
must  get  into  the  habit  of  seeing  whether 
the  statements  of  fact  in  the  paper  are  sup- 
ported by  evidence  or  not."  Our  country 
can  never  be  well  governed,  he  maintains, 
unless  the  people  learn  the  habit  of  weigh- 
ing evidence.  In  answer  to  the  question, 
Is  honest  journalism  possible?  the  com- 
mon opinion  seems  to  be  in  the  affirmative. 
In  conclusion,  the  results  of  this  study 
may  thus  be  summarized :  the  cause  of  the 
influence  of  the  American  newspaper  is 
inherent  in  the  nation  itself  and  the  news- 
paper is  what  it  is  because  American  society 
is  what  it  is.  Given  a  certain  type  of 
society,  we  have  a  certain  kind  of  news- 
paper ;  an  agricultural  country  gives  us  the 
local  conservative  journal;  the  industrial 
community  a  national  sensational  journal. 
It  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  book  to 
discuss  remedies.  Yet  this  much  may  be 
said,  that  if  this  analysis  of  American 
journalism  is  sound,  if  the  character  of  the 
press  is  chiefly  sensational  and  commercial. 


Causes  oj  Newspaper  Influence     213 

with  only  a  secondary  place  given  to  the 
cultural  aspects  of  human  thought,  and  if, 
as  has  been  claimed,  the  cause  of  this  in- 
fluence lies  in  the  present  character  of  the 
American  people,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
only  hope  for  improvement  lies  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  standards  of  this  people,  in 
emancipation  from  commercialism  and  its 
matter-of-fact  and  leveling  tendencies. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


19  t943 


f£B  ig  1345 
JAN  2  6  1950        ,f^^;^^\\^\i^ 


N0V17195Q 
2  419511 

PEG  5     1^^^ 
JAN  1  (^  R£Ci|' 

rSot  Wf IKS  «OM  OAii  d»  ««^ 


REC'D  LD^URl 
WRL     DEC  3  07^ 


C)  'i/Or. 


C-f'^ 


MAR     6  1'^"^5^ 


s 


UKL 


I^OM 


2Um-l,'li(S01u) 


AT 

LOS  ANGELES 

LIBRARY 


i<^ 


UC  SOUTHERN  RfGIOfjAL  LIBKARY  rAClLITY 


AA    000  409  236    / 


